Sri Lanka’s leading hospitality training organisation, Institute of Hospitality (Sri Lanka) will present International Hospitality Leaders’ Conference 2026 at Cinnamon Grand Colombo from 8.00 am onwards today.

Over 200 senior industry leaders will converge in Colombo today for a full day confab, focused on one defining question : What changes should the Sri Lankan hospitality undergo to remain competitive by 2030?

Bringing together more than 200 hotel owners, General Managers, commercial leaders, investors, policymakers and international speakers from the Seychelles, the UAE, the Maldives, Singapore, Belgium and Malta, the conference has been designed as a leadership platform for the conversations that will shape the industry’s next decade.

Convened under the theme Vision 2030: Shaping the Future Performance of Sri Lanka’s Hospitality Industry, the programme moves beyond traditional conference discussions to examine the decisions leaders need to make now to build a more competitive, resilient and future-ready hospitality sector.

The day begins by examining how leadership itself is evolving in an industry where guest expectations, commercial pressures and workforce dynamics continue to change, before turning to the organisations behind high-performing hotels and the role of culture, capability and talent in driving long-term success.

Throughout the day, international perspectives from the Seychelles, the Maldives and the global travel industry will explore what makes destinations truly competitive, while sessions on artificial intelligence, revenue strategy and consumer behaviour examine how technology is reshaping the way hotels are discovered, priced and experienced, and what travellers will expect by 2030.

IHLC 2026 is proudly powered by Nestlé Lanka, with the support of Platinum Partners CodeGen International and APIIT Sri Lanka; Gold Partners Lion Brewery Ceylon and Rockland Distilleries; Silver Partners Ninewells Hospital, Hameedia and BYD Sri Lanka; and valued partners Lakarcade, Celsius, Laugfs, SriLankan Airlines, Classic Travels and Aitken Spence Travels. The conference is hosted at Cinnamon Grand Colombo, Official Hospitality Partner. Chairman of the Institute of Hospitality will Chair the event. Conference Chairman is Refhan Razeen. (HG)

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna parliamentarian Chanaka Madugoda has asked Education minister and PM Dr. Harini Amarasuriya what action will be taken against the principal of a school whose students attended a commemoration for ‘Lt Col.’ Thileepan. He has also demanded to know why memorials to LTTE cadres are allowed to be erected in the North.

Chanaka Madugoda has told Parliament that the government should act against those responsible for involving schoolchildren in such events.

“We would like to know from the Education Minister what action would be taken against the principal of the school concerned as an offence has been committed,” he said.

Madugoda went on to question why a statement by another MP describing the LTTE commander Balraj as a hero had not been expunged from the Hansard.

A bronze statue of Thileepan was installed at his memorial on Nallur Back Road earlier this month, at the site of a monument the Sri Lankan military has destroyed on three separate occasions. A tower built at the spot where he began his fast was destroyed by the Sri Lankan army after capturing Jaffna in 1996; it was rebuilt during a ceasefire but destroyed again in 2007.

Chanaka Madugoda

Thileepan, whose real name was Rasaiah Parthipan, was the political wing leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He began a fast unto death at the Nallur Kandaswamy temple on 15 September 1987, demanding the withdrawal of the IPKF from Noth and East in protest at India’s failure to honour the pledges it had made to the Tamil people following the Indo-Lanka Accord. He made five demands, none of which was met, and he died on the morning of 26 September 1987.

Commemorations have been held daily across the North-East on the anniversary of the start of his fast, and Sri Lankan police have moved against them repeatedly.

Commemorations commenced on 15 Sept and ended on 26 Sept. Police removed the Thileepan statue on 27 Sept.

Editor of Divaina Business Section Shyam Nuwan Ganewatte will launch Bhandagaraye Mudal Kollaya at the Colombo International Book fair which commenced on 25 Sept and ends on 4 Oct. It contains the reports issued by the Committee on Public Finance in respect of the USD 2.5 mn loss.