PRIYAL PERERA APPOINTED

President CHSGA

Hotelier Priyal Perera was elected as the new President of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA) at its 48th AGM held at Cinnamon Resorts, Habarana recently. He is a veteran hotelier with over 30 years’ experience in the hotel and business sector.

Perera becomes the 37th President of the CHSGA, succeeding Samantha Gunarathne, who served a term of two years as the President. CHSGA, which is the alumni of the Ceylon Hotel School (presently known as Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management [SLITHM]) is the leading representative tourism and hospitality sector in Sri Lanka, representing almost 1,000 hotels and guest houses, which employ over 60,000 people throughout the country.

The CHSGA has a membership of over 4,000 professional hoteliers who are Graduates of the Ceylon Hotel School (SLITHM), who are employed in senior management positions locally and overseas. A total of 300 members attended the event, including members from overseas and past presidents. The Chief Guest of the occasion was CHSGA Patron and SLITHM Chairman Dilip De Silva.

The key priorities will include close cooperation with the SLITHM in order to upgrade and sustain professional standards of the Hotel School

The Guest of Honour was veteran hotelier and John Keells Holdings former Group Director Sumitra Gunasekara. The members enjoyed the fabulous weekend and expressed their appreciation for a wellorganised three days.

The re-launch of the CHSGA Hotelier Magazine was a matter of great interest to the members. It is a hospitality and tourism news portal to serve the industry professionals, with Thakshila Galappaththy who is also the Chief Editor. Copies of the magazine were distributed at the AGM and are also available on the website.

A special feature highlighting two major annual assignments of CHSGA were showcased. ‘Propel’ the soft skills development programme and the ‘Hotel Show Colombo’ the annual exhibition for the trade is to be held in November.