Hilton Hotels & Resorts is exploring opportunities in Sri Lanka while stepping up efforts to cater to a growing Chinese clientele, according to a senior Hilton official.

During a visit to Colombo last week, Hilton's vice president for South-east Asia and India, William Costley, spoke of plans to increase the chain’s presence in the country beyond the existing 382-room, 29-year-old Hilton Colombo.

This comes on the back of Sri Lanka announcing its ambitions to increase arrivals from 1.7 million to five million by 2020 and to inject an additional 50-60,000 rooms to the country’s current inventory of 32,000 registered rooms.

Costley said the group is considering locations in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Dambulla, as well as resorts in the south including Yala wildlife safaris and possibly Jaffna.

In Colombo, the group is looking at the possibility of a smaller hotel under the DoubleTree by Hilton brand.

The Hilton Colombo has undergone an extensive renovation project over the past 18 months, adding a new Chinese restaurant to cater to its growing Chinese clientele.

(TTGA)