Radhey S Tawar, Chief Commercial Officer, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, in an exclusive interview, shares his insights with Today’s Traveller on Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts’ growth strategy, India’s pivotal market role, and sustainable hospitality innovation.
Radhey S Tawar, Chief Commercial Officer, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, is shaping the brand’s next chapter of growth across South Asia with a sharp focus on strategy, market expansion, and experiential transformation. With a career rooted in global hospitality, spanning The Oberoi Rajvilas, Burj Al Arab, and senior commercial roles with IHG across India, the Middle East, and Africa, he brings both depth and perspective to his leadership.
In an exclusive and engaging conversation with Today’s Traveller, Tawar shares insights on the growing significance of the Indian market, Cinnamon’s evolving portfolio, and how sustainability and innovation are driving the region’s hospitality future.
TT Bureau: India has emerged as a key source market for Sri Lanka and the wider South Asian region. How do you view its potential and relevance for Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts?
Radhey S Tawar: I think as Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts we have a huge interest from Sri Lanka and from a regional point of view. As we know, India is the largest tourist market for us and it contributes about 20% of the international tourist arrivals to the country. The Maldives is also a very important market. So we look at it from a regional perspective.
When I talk about Sri Lanka, it is divided into two different parts. As far as the tourism market is concerned, one is for Colombo, which is a completely different market. The beauty about Colombo as a market from India is that it attracts leisure, MICE, weddings, meetings and events. Everyone is a potential tourist and traveller for our resorts.
On the other hand, you have a lot of MICE and destination weddings, including many NRI celebrations. From that point of view, it is an extremely important market for us. We know now that Sri Lanka is on a path to economic recovery as well. We are looking at one of the best years ahead of us from a tourism point of view, and I think it’s going to be really exciting. That’s why we spend a lot of time in India through our events and resources. We also have our sales teams based in different parts of India to ensure that we are visible to our clients more often than not.
TT Bureau: How extensive is Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts’ presence across Sri Lanka, and what draws Indian travellers to its properties?
Radhey S Tawar: We have 13 hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka, four of which are in Colombo. Cinnamon Red offers everything that a traveller needs. It’s not luxury, but if you’re in and out of Colombo for one or two days on a quick business or leisure trip, Cinnamon Red is the place to stay. Then we have the legendary Cinnamon Grand, a hotel now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Everything that happens in Colombo happens there. Cinnamon Lakeside is our third property, a beautiful resort-like hotel within the city.
We have also opened our biggest hotel in South Asia with 687 rooms, Cinnamon Life Sri Lanka, in collaboration with Melco, our international gaming partners. It brings an all-new gaming experience to the country. We had gaming before, but not at the scale that City of Dreams has introduced. The launch on the 2nd of August featured Hrithik Roshan as our chief guest. It gives travellers a real gaming option within a short flight distance, only 30 minutes to 3 hours from Delhi.
Among our resorts, Cinnamon Bentota Beach is a Signature Selection property and one of the most loved by Indian travellers. Bentota is a very popular destination, known for its beautiful beaches. Signature Selection means this property offers a higher and more distinctive experience compared to our other Cinnamon hotels.
Sri Lanka offers a rich diversity of experiences including beaches, wildlife, culture, heritage, city sightseeing and shopping. We have resorts in Kandy, Habarana and Trincomalee on the East Coast, where the whale-watching season has recently concluded. Across every destination, we have a property that matches the character of the location and the experiences it offers.
TT Bureau: Where do you identify the bottleneck for Indian visitors to completely absorb all these attractions of Sri Lanka?
Radhey S Tawar: I think there are two aspects to this. The first is flight connectivity. Currently, there are direct flights from nine Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, but that is still not sufficient. The regional part of travel, where there’s a lot of potential, gets missed due to the lack of direct routes.
However, connectivity is improving. As demand grows, capacity will follow. Another aspect that used to be a bottleneck but no longer is, is the visa process. It was once challenging, but now the authorities have made it simple. There is no visa cost; you apply online, and it is usually approved the same day. This convenience increases travel traffic and speeds up decision-making. Travellers can now plan a trip at short notice, even over a long weekend.
TT Bureau: How useful are the improved connectivity and easy visa facilitation process for MICE groups?
Radhey S Tawar: It is extremely useful. As I mentioned, Cinnamon Life has 160,000 square feet of meeting and event space. We need new MICE groups to come to the country, and India, being the closest market, is our focus. India MICE is extremely significant for us. We collaborate with SriLankan Airlines, the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and our MICE partners in India to attract new business from competing destinations.
TT Bureau: Are any low-cost airlines flying to Sri Lanka?
Radhey S Tawar: We have IndiGo, which flies to Colombo and is the only Indian airline flying to Jaffna. It’s the only international airline connecting Jaffna to India.
Sri Lanka has its own low-cost carrier, FitsAir, which started a couple of years ago. It has a service to Chennai and other international destinations, but in India, only Chennai at the moment. That’s where we see MICE movement as well. When we have large MICE groups, capacity can be an issue, but this will improve as the network grows.
TT Bureau: Your thoughts on sustainability as a key issue in today’s hospitality landscape ?
Radhey S Tawar: The way we operate in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and this is very important in today’s hospitality landscape, is through sustainability.
The ecosystems in both destinations are extremely fragile, so sustainability is not optional. It’s something we must preserve if we want long-term tourism in these regions. We work closely with government organisations; for example, in the Maldives, we assist with ocean data logging and temperature monitoring projects. In Sri Lanka, we engage with local communities around our hotels and resorts.
From an ESG perspective, we take a hands-on approach, and we ensure that guests can see our commitment. They value how responsibly we manage our resources, and that reinforces our vision for responsible hospitality.
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