The Mexican hotel group Velas Resorts was founded 25 years ago by Eduardo Vela. An entrepreneur with a big stake in the construction industry, he moved into hospitality when he decided that a condominium project would work well as a hotel. He was proved right and now there are four luxury hotel properties offering different choice locations around Mexico, with a fifth on the way in 2016.
Ajith Dias, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, talks to Sydney Paulden
If you specifically wanted to design a senior executive for a top job in the hospitality industry that person would look very much like Ajith Dias. He became Chairman of SriLankan Airlines eight months ago and also chairs SriLankan Catering Services. Previously he headed the company that owned the Colombo Hilton and he had already established the global coffee-house franchise, Barista, in Sri Lanka.
Lillian Panayi suggests a visit in a Cyprus leisure programme
When I walked onto the Cyprus stand at The Meetings Show in Olympia, Lillian Panayi of the Cyprus Tourism Office in London was talking to a visiting buyer about Nicosia. What she said attracted my interest so I later asked her for more details.
Cyprus is a small island in the Eastern Mediterranean and yet it can offer a remarkable variety of landscapes and activities. It is mainly known for its string of beach resorts, but then a group can swim and sunbathe in the morning, take lunch in an ancient mountain village and end the same day ski-ing in the Troodos mountains.
Riccardo Pilati, of Hotel Principe di Savoia, talks to Sydney Paulden
If you think of the top hotels in cities such as London, Rome, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva and Milan you will almost always include in your list members of Dorchester Collection. There are ten of these and they refer to themselves as ‘Iconic properties in iconic places’.
The Milan member is the Hotel Principe di Savoia and ITCM was able to interview its Senior Director of Sales on his recent visit to London.
Graeme Barnett, Senior Exhibitions Director at Reed Travel Exhibitions, talks to Sydney Paulden
EIBTM is now known as IBTM World. One of the most notable exhibitions in the MICE sector, it has been not only going but growing since 1988. ITCM asked Graeme Barnett to clarify the reasons behind the change of name. Graeme, who was one of the founders of the exhibition, is now Senior Exhibition Director at Reed Travel Exhibitions.