Thema Collection has expanded its portfolio with the opening of Deewara on the Mawella coast while progressing plans for a low-impact safari retreat near Yala. The family-owned hotel group is also developing new resort concepts in Kalpitiya and Ella as it continues to expand its presence across Sri Lanka.
Speaking at a media gathering in Colombo, Thema Collection Founder and Chairman Chandra Wickramasinghe described Deewara as a property designed to offer a distinct coastal experience on an untouched stretch of coastline beyond Tangalle.
Acquired earlier this year, the restored fisherman’s cottage draws inspiration from Sri Lanka’s maritime heritage. Deewara will also feature in the first episode of the relaunched Rendez-vous with Yasmin and Kumar, scheduled to air on 1 October.
A major focus of the group’s current development pipeline is a planned retreat near Yala, aimed at addressing the growing pressure created by visitor congestion around the country’s most visited national park. Wickramasinghe noted that around 2,000 hotel rooms have been developed around the park’s main entrance, with approximately 100 jeeps entering through the gateway each day.
He contrasted this with a quieter entrance, which currently receives fewer than eight jeeps a day despite government investment in opening the access point. According to the chairman, the entrance remains underused partly because there is limited accommodation in the surrounding area.
Thema Collection plans to address this gap through a low-impact accommodation concept featuring tree houses and silent safaris conducted using electric vehicles. Visitor numbers would be tightly controlled, while the surrounding buffer land would also be rehabilitated as part of the project.
“It’s a super opportunity,” Wickramasinghe remarked.
Although the group has secured the lease for the project, construction will require clearances from as many as 23 state institutions, in addition to consultations with village societies and temple committees.
“They collect 23 institutions again and again. This is the problem,” he said, calling for the approval process to potentially be completed within around six months, depending on the sensitivity of the land.
Despite the regulatory requirements, Wickramasinghe said the group remains committed to the project, particularly given the environmental pressures affecting sensitive destinations such as Yala.
“In a way it’s good, you protect the environment before I even put a brick down there,” he added.
In Kalpitiya, Thema Collection is developing a beachfront resort concept aimed at encouraging visitors to spend more time at the destination rather than treating it primarily as a stop for kitesurfing and island excursions.
“No one is going there for five, six days just to stay on the beach,” Thema Collection Director of Marketing and Business Development Maxime Wickramasinghe said, highlighting the need to develop experiences that encourage longer stays.
The group is also designing a resort in Ella inspired by the Ravana legend associated with the surrounding hills. The concept will incorporate elements drawn from temple architecture and traditional havelis, with Maxime Wickramasinghe emphasising that the theme would be interpreted with appropriate reverence. Both the Kalpitiya and Ella projects remain at the design stage.
The new developments will add to Thema Collection’s portfolio of 17 properties comprising 362 rooms, stretching from Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle and tea country to the east coast and southern regions. The group owns 14 of these properties.
According to the chairman, Thema Collection generally favours long-term leases when acquiring new sites and advances its development pipeline in line with financing conditions and construction costs.
Sustainability initiatives are undertaken on a project-by-project basis, Maxime Wickramasinghe explained. The group has also received support from programmes such as the Market Development Facility, which assisted with quantifying its carbon emissions. However, most sustainability initiatives are self-financed, as many grant programmes are designed primarily for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The group traces its origins to Connaissance De Ceylan, the inbound travel agency co-founded by Chandra Wickramasinghe in 1982. It entered the hotel sector in 1994, with the portfolio subsequently growing around individually conceived properties built around distinctive concepts and stories.
Maxime Wickramasinghe pointed to Maalu Maalu in Pasikudah, developed following the end of the conflict, as a property that helped establish the group’s approach to creating hotels around individual narratives.
Storytelling has since become a central element of Thema Collection’s marketing strategy.
“It’s more clips of storytelling, that’s how it sells now,” the chairman explained.
The group’s focus on responsible tourism has also received international recognition. Amba Yaalu in Kandalama, described as Sri Lanka’s first hotel operated entirely by women, and Wild Glamping Gal Oya, developed in collaboration with the Vedda community of Rathugala, both received Gold awards at the recent ICRT Indian Subcontinent Responsible Tourism Awards.
Both properties will now progress to the Global Responsible Tourism Awards in London in November. Thema Collection’s carbon emissions are independently verified by Control Union.
Discussing broader changes in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, Maxime Wickramasinghe noted that user-generated content and the preferences of younger travellers are encouraging visitors to move beyond the country’s traditional tourism circuit. Destinations including Sigiriya, Gal Oya and Wasgamuwa are increasingly attracting travellers looking for experiences beyond conventional sightseeing.
“They want to go and explore, they want experiences, they want different things,” he said.
Sri Lankan travellers account for more than 30 percent of Thema Collection’s clientele, followed by visitors from the UK, France and Australia. Maxime Wickramasinghe also credited the group’s diversified marketing approach with increasing the share of India in its occupancy from around 0.5 percent to approximately 6 percent.
Air connectivity remains a key factor for the next stage of tourism growth, according to Chandra Wickramasinghe.
“We need more airline seats,” he emphasised, while welcoming French Bee’s planned Paris-Malé-Colombo service from December.
He also called on private-sector tourism businesses to take a more active role in promoting Sri Lanka as a destination rather than relying solely on government institutions and tourism authorities.
“We can’t wait until government or tourist board or somebody is going to market us, so we have to market it ourselves,” he asserted.
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