To boost arrivals from Russia and Ukraine markets   

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

Sri Lanka Tourism, targeting an immediate promotional boost within potential Russian and Ukrainian winter-holiday seekers, organized a massive media and influencer campaign in November and December 2021, which invited and facilitated elite travel writers from the said countries.   

Two groups of elite travel writers and influencers from Russia and Ukraine were invited and facilitated by Sri Lanka Tourism recently together with a high profile media /influencer delegations with a combined media reach of 12 million audience (in total circulation and subscriptions) covering both countries.   

Assistant Director Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Chaminda Munasinghe told Daily Mirror considering the current global travel trends this is expected to be an important strategic move for country’s tourism for a speedy recovery.   

“Due to the pandemic concerns, travelers are reluctant to make early bookings in advance and prefer quick travel decisions by analyzing the latest travel updates and recommendations.   

Considering this ‘New Normal Travel Patterns’ organizing last moment media promotions will strategically position the island as a top of the mind holiday destination during the last moment winter holiday planning for 2021 /2022,” Mr. Munasinghe said.   

The eleven high profile travel writers (representing key media publications) and travel influencers (Instagram and YouTube) were invited to Sri Lanka from November 21st to December 8th to increase awareness about the reopening of Destination Sri Lanka for international tourists from October 1st.   

Some of the key publications invited are, Vogue- Ukraine: https://vogue.ua/, Harper’s Bazzar- Russia: https://bazaar.ru/, Total Escape- Ukraine: https://escapemgz.com/, Areoflot Inflight Magazine - Russia: https://www.aeroflot.ru/ruen/information/onboard/entertainment. Also, famous Ukrainian Travel Blogger and Instagramer Yana Usipava (539,000 followings on Instagram -Link: https://www.instagram.com/yana_osypova/) and Maxis and Olha Uzol from the popular YouTube travel vlog: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwv4Vw-oa1cTPd4sfvDuSJw have also been part of this promotion.   

Invited media and travel influencers are expected to share their unique experiences in Sri Lanka with millions of their travel seeking audiences in Russia and Ukraine and invite them to explore Sri Lanka as their next bucket list destination.   

Overall, with the pandemic lockdown and stages of travel restrictions, Sri Lanka Tourism has continued to undertake various media and travel influencer related promotions to “keep the Sri Lankan holiday dream alive”.