Licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Tourism fund is the first ever tourism sector fund in the country. It will distribute tax-free income from its profits on yearly basis.

The Ceylon Tourism Fund invests in ten key companies in the country’s hotel and travel sector. The companies are- Aitken Spence Hotels, John Keells Hotels, Asian Hotel and Properties, Taj Lanka Hotels, Ceylon Hotels Corporation, Hotel Services (Ceylon), Royal Palm Beach Hotels, Amaya Leisure, Light House Hotel and the Fortress Resort PLC.

Daily News reported that the Ceylon Tourism Fund is an open-ended equity fund which allows investors to invest and exit any time.

The stocks will be offered for sale in the market on July 28, 2010 at Rs.10 per share with a minimum investment limit of Rs. 10,000.

Tourism is one of the major sectors for Sri Lanka. Till date, the country’s tourism sector could not flourish due to civil war and political instability. Now, that the war is over, Sri Lankan government is working hard to turn around the country’s tourism sector.

Recently, Sri Lankan government organized the 11^th IIFA Awards in Colombo in order to boost Sri Lanka’s image around the world.

As per the December 2009 directive of NRB, Banks and financial institutions should downsize their loan exposure to real estate and housing to 30 percent by the end of this fiscal year.

The move was taken to control the rapid expansion of the country’s realty sector. NRB ordered the banks to limit their loan exposure to real estate to 25 percent of their total loan portfolio.

Till date, the total loan exposure in housing and real estate is Rs. 98billion accounting for 21.07 percent of the total lending of the banks which stands at Rs.465 billion.

Because of this announcement, the amount of housing loan would go up while the real estate sector loan would decline. The change was made by NRB after it received complains from banks and financial institutions and housing developers.

David Sullivan, Chairman, West Ham United F.C. said that the “star midfielder is not for sale.”

Tottenham offered £20million over five years which reveals that the club is planning to build a strong team around Parker. Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, was very much interested to use Parker to build a powerful squad to compete in Champions League.

However, Sullivan said that he would not break his pledge by letting West Ham’s player of the year leave for any amount of money. In the club’s official website, he said, ‘For far too long, have had owners that sell their best players and promise one thing and do another. This is a new era. We are building a bigger, better West Ham and when we make a promise, we honour it.”

Scott Parker was born on October 13, 1980. An English footballer, Scott represented England at every level starting from under-15 to Senior. He graduated from School of Excellence at Lilleshall, which was once known as a reputed institution for nurturing young football players.