Hemtours enters into Strategic Alliance with Diethelm Travel Group'

New venture announced at ITB 2008 in Berlin

The Thailand-based Diethelm Travel Group (DTG) and one of Sri Lanka’s leading tour operators,  Hemtours, today announced the launch of “Diethelm Travel Sri Lanka” (DTSL) and “Diethelm Travel The Maldives” (DTTM) with a specific focus on in-bound tourism markets. Announcing the MOU between the two companies at the ITB (Internationale Tourismus Boerse) currently being held in Berlin, Chief Executive Officer of DTG, John Watson, said, “Our customers have long been asking for a Diethelm Travel presence in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We have found an excellent partner in Hemtours, a long-established, highly regarded, and quality tour operator. We are now in the process of re-branding the Hemtours businesses and will be trading as DTSL and DTTM during Q4 2008.”The Diethelm Travel Group counts over 50 years experience of providing full travel services within the Far East region. DTG is a subsidiary of Diethelm Keller Holdings, headquartered in Zurich, which is a closely held family company principally owned by fourth generation descendants of the founders.

Its extensive network has fully licensed and insured offices in Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam and has a worldwide reputation as a first-class travel service provider. Diethelm Travel Group employs over 700 multi-lingual staff and serves hundreds of quality tour operators across the globe, enjoying exceptional relationships with travel suppliers and government departments across the board.Abbas Esufally, Group Director, Hemas Holdings PLC, said, “We believe the outstanding performance of the Maldives will continue for many years to come. We recently sought to strengthen our Sri Lankan business by finding a partner with a truly global distribution reach. From day one of entering dialogue with DTG, it was clear we had found a like-minded, service-oriented, company with strong ethics and financial resources.” Hemtours is one of Sri Lanka’s largest destination management companies and is part of the Hemas Group of Companies, one of Sri Lanka’s top public quoted blue chip companies. With over 30 years of extensive experience in the sector, Hemtours is affiliated to some of the world’s largest tour operators including First Choice/Hayes & Jarvis from UK, Rewe Touristik from Germany, OAD from the Netherlands, etc. Richard Brouwer, Chief Operating Officer DTG added, “The key in any business is the quality of its people.

We are, therefore, delighted to announce that the current Managing Director of Hemtours, Harith Perera, will continue as the Managing Director, DTSL and DTTM. He will be part of the DTG senior management team and, under his leadership, we have every confidence that our businesses in Sri Lanka and The Maldives will rise to even greater heights.”