Reply To:
Name - Reply Comment
‘So Sri Lanka’ tourism tagline to go
- Global promotion campaign to kick off in May
- SLTDA and SLTPB developing a 10-year blueprint for tourism sector
By Nishel Fernando
As Sri Lanka is looking to bring about a renewed brand identity that will help it capture a bigger share of the global tourism market, plans are afoot to do away with the ‘So Sri Lanka’ tagline.
With the preparations underway to launch the much-awaited tourism promotion campaign focusing on nine key markets in May this year, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) yesterday said it is exploring the possibility of adopting a new brand identity, replacing the ‘So Sri Lanka’ tagline.
The SLTPB recently floated the tender to appoint a creative agency to develop strategies and creatives for the proposed 360-degree communication campaign. According to the amended terms of the TOR of the tender, the creative agency is not required to retain the ‘So Sri Lanka’ tagline in the proposed campaign.
SLTPB Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu noted that the effectiveness of the ‘So Sri Lanka’ brand is rather unclear, as the country did not have an integrated communication campaign during the past decade to build the brand focus.
“It’s the question you should ask yourselves whether it has worked or not,” he said.
Until 2000, the brand focus for Sri Lanka was on its sun, sea and sand, with a beach focus. However, gradually this was shifted to other offerings such as ‘nature, culture and adventure’
The destination’s advertising theme was initially ‘a land like no other’, which was changed to ‘Sri Lanka – Wonder of Asia’ in 2012. The pillars of Variety (in seeing and being), Compactness and Authenticity served as the foundation for this phrase.
The new branding ‘So Sri Lanka’ was presented by Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities in 2018, with a focus on the adaptability and diversity of Sri Lanka’s product range (especially digital adaptability).
Under the proposed campaign, Gajabahu noted that Sri Lanka would promote the destination in nine key markets, which include the UK, Germany, France, India, China, Australia, Russia Middle East and Scandinavia, by disseminating the message that “Sri Lanka is ready to receive tourists” over a one-year period.
“We will not clearly go for a global communication campaign. We will focus on nine key markets first and then we will focus on the next 10 markets. With the budges we have, it’s no point in spreading it across 40-50 markets,” he said.
The SLTPB is expected to float the tender to select a PR agency and a social media agency next week.
In the interim period (until May), Gajabahu shared that a mini social media and PR campaign would be launched mainly focusing on Russia, China, India and some of the key European source markets.
Commenting on the Chinese market, he said that several road shows and influence programmes are already planned for the market. Further, he noted that the air connectivity to Sri Lanka would be further improved with at least two to three airlines set to commence flights between the countries, which is in addition to SriLankan Airlines.
In addition, the SLTPB together with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) is spearheading efforts to come up with a 10-year blueprint for the tourism sector.
For 2023, the government targets to attract 1.55 million tourists to earn a US $ 2.8 billion income.
Comments - 11
Recommended
You May Also Like
