Ride-hailing firm PickMe launched Colombo Connect at the Colombo Lotus Tower on Wednesday, the first city-wide destination to be introduced under its newly unveiled PickMe Explore platform.
The initiative aims to link the capital’s attractions, restaurants, entertainment venues, retail, cultural sites and transport into a single digital interface, rather than leaving each operator to promote itself. The company estimates the ecosystem could generate more than Rs. 30 billion a year in economic activity once fully developed, by encouraging visitors to spend longer in Colombo before travelling elsewhere in the island.
Western Province Governor Hanif Yusoof attended as chief guest, alongside Digital Economy Ministry Secretary Waruna Sri Dhanapala, Colombo Lotus Tower Chairman Shirantha Peries and travel writer Juliet Coombe.
“Colombo already has everything it needs to become one of South Asia’s most exciting urban destinations. What has been missing is a platform that brings those experiences together,” PickMe CEO Jiffry Zulfer said. “Today, attractions promote themselves. Restaurants promote themselves. Museums, events and entertainment venues all operate independently. Colombo Connect changes that by helping present the city as one connected destination.”
PickMe also announced that PickMe Events, its event discovery and ticketing service, will now operate as PickMe Explore, reflecting a broader remit covering destinations and experiences nationally.
The state-owned Lotus Tower is the platform’s first partner. Visitors can now buy tickets to its Observation Deck and Pixel Bloom, an immersive digital art museum, through the app.
Governor Yusoof said the province’s ambition was not simply to attract more tourists but to encourage longer stays and higher local spending, Daily Mirror reported. He pointed to an upcoming tourism project backed by an $80 million (approximately Rs. 24 billion) World Bank investment covering the revitalisation of Fort and Pettah, a modern art museum, an interconnected heritage trail and nature-based wetland centres.
Coombe, who described Colombo as the region’s “most happening city,” said the capital’s craftsmanship and heritage sites remained underexploited as visitor attractions.
Update — August 10: Christmas tree proposal
Governor Yusoof also used the launch to float turning the 350-metre Lotus Tower into what he described as South East Asia’s largest Christmas tree this holiday season, the Daily Mirror reported on Monday.
“I want the Lotus Tower to be the largest Christmas tree this Christmas,” he said. “I will put a commitment to the President and to the Prime Minister that this Christmas would be one of the best Christmases in South East Asia.” He urged hotels, restaurants, shops and households to decorate for the season to lift the festive atmosphere and local commerce.
The idea remains a stated ambition rather than an approved project. No cost estimate or timeline has been given, and Lotus Tower management has not responded publicly. The Daily Mirror noted that the tower’s existing LED lighting system could in principle deliver the effect without new construction — unlike Sri Lanka’s 2016 attempt to build the world’s tallest artificial Christmas tree at Galle Face Green, a privately funded Rs. 12 million project that drew criticism from the Catholic Church over spending, ran into delays, and waited a year before Guinness World Records certified it in December 2017.
