SL Tourism to narrow focus to seven key markets to boost industry

• Improved focus will be on getting in high spenders to island nation
• Campaigns will only focus on India, China, Russian Federation, UK, Germany, Middle East and Australia

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam 
Sri Lanka Tourism will be making the most of the funding available to promote the island nation on the international stage by working on only seven key tourist traffic-generating markets, instead of diluting its focus across many countries. As the situation in Sri Lanka is improving, bringing in more foreign exchange spenders, Sri Lanka Tourism is determined to capitalise on the ongoing boost witnessed by the industry, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) said. 

In an effort to lure not just more tourists but high-spending international travellers, the SLTPB has shortlisted India, China, the Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Germany, the Middle East and Australia as its focus regions. 

The SLTPB said the decision to limit the target markets for the 2023 promotions is due to the limited funding available to carry out the campaigns. 

Accordingly, a series of road shows and events in the listed markets will see the partaking of the Sri Lanka pavilion in the coming months. 

From the list, Sri Lanka Tourism has much expectation from the Indian market, given its close proximity to the island nation, which makes travel more affordable. Further, the industry stakeholders recognise the Indian market as a better spender, an element imperative for the national economy, as it is starved of foreign exchange. 
Of the seven, receiving fresh focus will be the Chinese market, which opened up only in the second week of January. The end of its stringent Covid-19 policies has given the global tourism sector much hope for improved activities. 

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector authorities and private sector stakeholders are expected to hold discussions next week to chart the way forward. 

While the stakeholders will participate in road shows in China in the coming months, national carrier SriLankan Airlines is also looking to increase the flight frequency to nine per week collectively from the cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. 

Plans under the overall strategic marketing efforts also include a “strong” PR campaign, said SLTPB Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu.

At the upcoming 75th Independence Day celebrations, Sri Lanka Tourism has prepared two promotional videos for the destination, which will be shared by Sri Lanka missions located across the world on February 4. The rollout of the videos will be done alongside a press conference, which will be the first promotion of the island nation carried out by the foreign missions for 2023. 

Further, as Sri Lanka Tourism aims to work with 1,000 influencers over the 12 months of the year, Gajabahu said a strategic decision has been made to ensure the arrivals of the influencers are spaced out.

The influencers, who will arrive for the year 2023 to promote Sri Lanka, will be only from the seven shortlisted target markets, as the authority has to work with a constrained budget, shared Gajabahu. 

The SLTB chief shared that a “decent” budget has been allocated for this year’s marketing and promotional efforts. 
“With the constraints we have, we have somehow managed to get those cleared,” he said.