SLTPB plans aggressive marketing push at WTM London

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) has made arrangements to participate at the World Travel Market (WTM) 2019 at a grand scale, which the agency said is set to bring a wide variety of opportunities to Sri Lanka’s tourism sector.

The event is scheduled to be held from November 4 to 6 in London. 

WTM is an internationally-acclaimed trade event where it enables the growth and development of the global travel industry, and encourages small and medium scale entrepreneurs, destination management companies, hoteliers and travel enthusiasts to come and offer what they have in store for the modern traveler. 

WTM annually facilitates generation of over US$ 7 billion worth industry deals. 

Sri Lanka Tourism has been an active member of this event for many years along with the local travel industry to highlight Sri Lanka as a world-class tourism hot spot, with a variety of travel and hospitality products, including the world famous Ceylon Tea. 

This time too, SLTPB plans to participate at this mega event with an exclusive range of travel opportunities Sri Lanka has got to offer, along with its exotic wildlife, authentic cuisine, natural and cultural resources and pristine beaches. “This year, the SLTPB wants to make Sri Lanka the most prominent participant out of all the other destinations. In addition to event site exposure in terms destination branding, plans are underway to carry out numerous pre and post event exposure also linking consumer advertising and consumer media exposure. Underground advertising in London in key tube stations will commence in October this year,” SLTPB Managing Director Charmarie Maelge said. 

Sri Lanka’s participation this time is also expected to encourage more tourists to Sri Lanka from UK, since UK is among the top ten markets of Sri Lanka Tourism. 
Up to August 2019, tourist arrivals from UK were recorded at 144, 646 making it the second largest tourist generating market for Sri Lanka.

Launches CNN ad campaign

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) launched its global TV advertising with CNN featuring the destination new branding ‘So Sri Lanka,’ last week. 
Commercial spots across CNN International Channels in Europe, Middle East, Africa feed, Asia Pacific feed and South Asia feed started last Friday for a duration of three months. 

This high frequency prime time targeted advertising is expected to provide much awareness needed for the destination right now amongst the consumers worldwide and especially in the key source markets of Sri Lanka.

This consumer awareness campaign on the destination will comprise CNN Editorial, Travel Sri Lanka vignettes and feature a Great Big Story in addition to worldwide TV advertising.
SLTPB will commence a three-month television media advertising campaign with CNN to have visibility in the tourist generating markets to revive the popularity of the destination in the minds of the consumers.

“The government has done quite a lot of programmes after the April incident. It is vital to execute a campaign of this nature on an urgent basis to boost tourism demand for Sri Lanka,” Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga said. 

SLTPB, in the past, had launched two advertising campaigns with CNN in 2014 and 2018.