‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’

‘Please come onboard to support an Island of Hospitality’

Minister Harin Fernando with the  tourism stakeholders at the head table

By Sanath Weerasuriya

‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’, the latest tagline to promote Sri Lanka as a destination around the world was officially launched on Tuesday, 20 September by Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando along with the tourism industry stakeholders of Sri Lanka.  After years of long gap without a proper catchphrase, Sri Lanka Tourism embraced the new promotional phrase ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ to bring a fast and effective recovery of tourism industry in Sri Lanka. 

‘‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’-‘Please come onboard to support an Island of Hospitality’ is the foremost message that gives the boost to all travellers around the world’ said Nilmin Nanayakkara, the Campaign Visionary and Strategist.  ‘With the Easter attack in 2019, followed by Covid Pandemic for almost three years and the current economic crisis the tourism industry has not been able to secure the due tourism arrivals and the much needed revenue to the economy. 

Having experienced and seen the situation, we at NKAR Travels formed a group together to evaluate and address the important aspects of the industry for a quick recovery. With this the Sri Lankan tourism industry gave birth to ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ Nanayakkara explained the initiative behind the tagline. After instigation by the Minister Harin Fernando, ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ has become the official catchphrase of the industry. 

Minister Harin Fernando said, the new ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ phrase will be included in all promotional events and materials of Sri Lanka Tourism and will be used as the newest marketing tool in promoting Sri Lanka as a destination around the world. He further stated that the overseas launch of ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ will be the main attraction of the ‘World Travel Mart –WTM’ in London in November this year. The Minister also disclosed plans to sign a MoU with Extreme Sports of London to promote adventure sports in Sri Lanka at the WTM.  
Through this campaign ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ the tourism industry is expecting a significant number of tourist arrivals to be drawn in during the upcoming winter season. The campaign also hopes to reach over 4-5 million Sri Lankans domiciled in other countries.  ‘Apart from four to five million participants around the globe, Sri Lankan domestic travellers too are welcome to be a part of this campaign. A photography competition was also launched to go hand in hand with the theme ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’. The campaign, ‘Save the Sri Lankans Smile’ will be enriched with its own Instagram/Facebook pages, YouTube channel and Web sites.

 ‘Apart from four to five million participants around the globe, Sri Lankan domestic travellers too are welcome to be a part of this campaign. A photography competition was also launched to go hand in hand with the theme ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’.

 With the launching of the campaign, the industry looks forward to having the national carrier and Sri Lanka tourism taking the lead driving the campaign. ‘We at NKAR bring this white label campaign only up to the launch and from now onward the ownership is handed over to the industry across the island. The campaign will move on for a period of four months with weekly campaign content being shared with the industry so that the stakeholders could brand the campaign story with their own branding and take it to the world. Sri Lanka Tourism will be the top campaigner’ said Nilmin Nanayakkara, a pioneer of the Sri Lankan tourism industry and Managing Director of a long-standing DMC, NKAR Travels and Tours (Pvt) Ltd.

Minister Harin launching the campaign with the Campaign Visionary and Strategist Nilmin Nanayakkara

 Pix by Upul Abeysekara