Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will open its second resort in Sri Lanka later this year, when it launches the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo in Q4.

The 10-acre resort will have 500 guestrooms and suites, along with 41 serviced apartments.

Wellness facilities at the resort will include a CHI, The Spa housing 10 treatment rooms.

The spa’s treatment menu will offer Chinese and ayurvedic treatments and will also incorporate movement into its signature therapies. To aid the movement agenda, the resort will include a 24-hour fitness centre.

Traditional treatments – such as body massages, hydrotherapy and mindfulness sessions – will also feature prominently in the CHI spa philosophy.

As part of its sustainable development strategy, Shangri La is looking to employ the majority of the resort’s workforce locally. In 2015, it launched a “Hospitality Traineeship Programme” in Colombo, with young adults participating in a 15- to 18-month programme.

Successful candidates were placed in selected Shangri-La hotels globally, returning to the property in Sri Lanka in preparation of pre-opening work.

The resort will be Shangri-La’s second in Sri Lanka, joining the existing Shangri-La Hambantota, located on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

Construction work on the Colombo resort first began in February 2012.

Greg Dogan, president and CEO of Shangri-La International Hotel Management, said: “Sri Lanka is a country of unsurpassed natural beauty and rich in cultural heritage.

“Both Shangri-La hotels strategically fit into the group’s ongoing expansion plans to link the Indian subcontinent and our South East Asia developments.”