Villas at Wild Coast Tented Lodge offer views of protected jungle.
Photographer: Victoria Hely-Hutchinson for Bloomberg Businessweek
Luxury Travel
A Decade After Civil War, Sri Lanka Dives Into Luxury
In the past seven years, tourism to the island nation has quadrupled. Now, hospitality leaders like Malik Fernando are creating unique high-end experiences to lure big-spending travelers.
In 2004 businessman Malik Fernando bought Castlereagh, a decrepit bungalow in the terraced, emerald hills of Sri Lanka’s sprawling tea country. The structure had no roof. “It was in absolute shambles,” he recalls. “There were cattle roaming through the whole house.”
But it had one irresistible asset: “It was what was available,” he says, shrugging and welcoming me to the neat, gingerbread-style mansion on a clear, 80F winter day. That was enough to make it the perfect place for the area’s first luxury hotel.