After a few days of meetings with many listed companies, we visited the Cinnamon Life City of Dreams project, that has been developed by John Keells Holdings, a holding of the fund. Besides the office and residential towers, which are part of the project, the key attraction of this project is a hotel, and it will also include a casino which is being developed by Melco Resorts of Macau and is scheduled to open in the latter part of 2025. Hence the branding with the name City of Dreams to keep it in line with Melco Resorts’ other City of Dreams projects in Macau and Philippines.
The Cinnamon Life City of Dreams is the first integrated resort in South Asia, which will also have a sizeable casino operation, and this project could become a key asset to further drive tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka, especially from India, which is the largest source market.
In general, I am very impressed with how the skyline of downtown Colombo is developing because in addition to the Cinnamon Life City of Dreams, other well-established hotel brands like Shangri La and ITC Hotels from India also have a waterfront presence along downtown Colombo. Besides these newer hotels, the more established names like Cinnamon Grand, Galle Face Hotel, The Kingsbury, and Taj add to the charm of Galle Face Green in downtown Colombo.
With English widely spoken, improving infrastructure, and a more relaxed pace of life, I think Colombo is one of the better cities to be in South Asia as a tourist or for business, and I believe the city will only improve from here as the government realises and notices the importance of attracting international travellers.
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