• It will be followed by another campaign targeting France and Germany 
• NDTV, Sky TV and BBC under consideration for the campaign

By Nishel Fernando
Sri Lanka Tourism has begun evaluating proposals for a special winter tourism promotion campaign on digital media targeting India and United Kingdom (UK), followed by France and Germany.

“We have already received a quotation from NDTV and we are evaluating it now. We are talking to BBC and SKY TV and we will select one of them,” Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told Mirror Business last Friday.

She noted that the digital blitz will commence in Indian and UK markets and later rolled out in France and Germany. 

The Cabinet of Ministers recently approved the proposal to implement tourism promotion campaigns in main tourism source markets of United Kingdom, Germany, France and India targeting 2021/2022 winter season in addition to the global tourism promotion programme.

Besides, Fernando noted that Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau is also eyeing joint promotions and marketing with airlines.

“We have reached out to Air France. They have already submitted a proposal,” she stressed.

Fernando pointed out the importance of B2C engagement in building the Sri Lanka tourism brand among the consumers.

“What we are trying to do is to engage and work with the consumer. All this time, they went on trade shows and didn’t directly engage with the consumer. I’m not saying B2B is bad, it’s good, but we need to engage and work with the consumer. 

For example, when someone mentions Maldives and France, almost everyone has an idea of their tourism brand, but that’s not the case for Sri Lanka. Most people abroad have a negative perception on Sri Lanka, so we have to change that perception,we need to build a nation brand. That’s lot of work,” she elaborated.

Hence, she noted that SLTPB is planning to engage with media platforms such as Bloomberg moving forward. 

In addition, the tourism authorities are also planning to launch the all inclusive-travel app called ‘Visit Sri Lanka’ in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), shortly.

Fernando noted that SLTDA is currently awaiting the approval of ICTA for the launch.