After a lapse of six years, Sri Lanka Tourism is to launch a Rs.200 million new brand building strategy recruiting a top global communication partner.
The move is in accordance with the marketing plan launched across the key strategic markets globally, in partnership with the Sri Lanka Inbound Tourist Organisation (SLITO) and Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL).

“Successful places focus on delivering emotional and social benefits. They are concerned about how they will make people feel, rather than relying on boring lists, facts and details. We are destination marketers but haven’t been using all the tools available to us in today’s world because we assume that consumers make decisions rationally,” Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Chairman Rohantha Athukorala said at the Asia Pacific On-board Travel (APOT.Asia) Forum in Colombo.

“While the rational, or ‘thinking’ part of the brain does play a role, it’s most often there to simply validate, or put into words a decision that our subconscious mind has already made for us. In order to reach the ‘thinking’ brain, our messages need to first pass the older parts of our brain, the parts that are far more primal and emotionally-oriented,” he was revealing the challenge for the communication partner as the country targets a new wave of tourists globally.

Athukorala said many places still try to promote themselves by using uninteresting lists of local attractions, businesses and services, whilst the new strategy will be more on the heritage and culture of the country, which are strongly linked to the country’s people.

The decision for the new strategy was taken on the direction of Sports and Tourism Minister Naveen Dissanayake with the approval of the Sports and Tourism Ministry and SLTPB board of directors. The strategy is to be in place within three months, which includes the production time.