TODAY

Myanmar’s growth in tourism has created a demand for more hotel accommodation. There has been a growing trend in today’s tourist industry towards creating tourist attractions in addition to just providing accommodation. This trend is expected to happen is Myanmar as well. Eskala Hotels and Resorts is seen trying to catch up with this trend. The following is what its General Manager Mr Nuwan Rathnayaka said in an exclusive interview he gave to TODAY.

Mr Nuwan Rathnayaka

Work Experience
I’m from Sri Lanka . I’m a hotel and tourism graduate. I’ve got hotel management training experience working at a number of hotels worldwide after working at some five-star hotels in Sri Lanka. I’ve been here in Myanmar for more than four years and a half, and have worked at four or five hotels here. I’m currently working at Eskala.

Both Myanmar and Sri Lanka have well-established Buddhist cultural traditions. I came here, because I’m interested in working with people of different cultures.

On the Hotel
I should say our Hotel is somewhat different from most hotels. ‘Eskala’ is a Spanish word meaning ‘escalating’, which, in our case,  implies that we’re going to work for a better, standard of our services. Some people might think that the Hotel comes from a foreign country, but it is in fact a pure Myanmar product. Our chief aim is to make Myanmar’s culture and hospitality better known to the rest of the world.

When it started opening
We started opening last March this year.
Staff
Our Hotel is staffed by efficient workers. All the members of staff are Myanmar except me. They have been well-trained in hospitality service in conformity with the Hotel’s standard.

Target market
Our target is every and any individual. Ngwe-saung is one of the promising beaches in Myanmar. Tourists around the world seek recreation and relaxation. They love beaches. So we would like to welcome them to our Hotel that lies on that Ngwesaung beach.

Architectural design
Our Hotel is designed like other international hotels. It has an air of comfort about it. It has villa-type rooms and some are deluxe rooms. The rooms are designed to be in tune with the ambience of the beach. Once you are in, you’ll see Myanmar’s handicrafts. So we can say the Hotel represents a blend of Myanmar’s traditional architectural styles and modern styles.

Tourist attraction plan
We’ve got in mind a plan to make Eskala an  activity hotel. Sandy beaches and sunlight are not the only things holidaymakers come for. So we are making arangements for various kinds of sports and games, such as football match, volley ball and badminton matches and also water sports like speed boating, surfing, diving etc.

Services
We’re working with the aim of making our hotel grow into a world-class hotel of Myanmar origin, promoting Myanmar’s genuine hospitality and high-quality services. We’ll also work for the sustainability of our business as well as for environmental preservation, never doing anything that can contaminate the beach. We feel obliged to conserve the purity of the beach.

Regarding service, we have skilled workers who know how to do best in their field of work. We’ll offer catering service for meetings, wedding receptions, honeymoon parties, etc Eskala has a swimming pool, the largest in Ngwesaung, with a pool bar where a variety of cocktails and smoothies are available.

Other services include a study tour around the beach. There is a elephant camp. We can make an arrangement for our guest to visit it. There are also arrangement for a study or sight-seeing tour of the island around.

Promotion Plan
We offer packaged tour – for example, a Thadingyut relaxing tour package. In December we will co-sponsor the Myanmar movie academy award ceremony with Junction Ciniplex. In February we’ll have Eskala Happy Package. We will also offer special packages during the whole of Myanmar Thingyan period.

Forks
The aim of Eskala is to promote genuine Myanmar foods, so about 70 percent of our foods are Myanmar foods. We’ll also serve seafoods we make using different styles of cooking. Beach dinner will be made available on request.

Number of rooms and price
At present Eskala has 12 villa-type rooms and 48 deluxe rooms, 60 in all. Prices vary from 110 US dollars to 160 during the period from October to  April. During the peak season from the end of December to the Thangyan period, it varies from 142 dollars to 210 dollars.

Translated by : Nyunt Thaung