Navin banks on “new thinking” to turn around Sri Lanka Tourism
Sri Lanka Tourism has an untouched US$15 million in promotional funds since last year that is likely to be used for direct marketing with less participation at international trade fairs.
Sports and Tourism Minister Navin Dissanayaka in an interview with the Business Times on Friday at his Sports Ministry office in Colombo said they have realised that there were funds amounting to $15 million that could be used for promotions and which had not been used.
He said the international travel industry fair, ITB scheduled for next month would see Sri Lanka launching the country branding campaign with the involvement of one of the largest delegations of about 57 private sector companies.
Minister Dissanayaka, who is also attending the fair, said they would also be using some of the efforts made for tourism promotion by the previous administration including the tag “Wonder of Asia.” He noted, “I’m not sure whether we should stop doing what is working,” adding that they also intend on marketing Sri Lanka tourism through international magazines like Time and the Economist.
Mr. Dissanayaka questioned the high cost incurred in the participation of trade fairs saying they were spending around $5 million per year.
In this context he pointed out that they needed to adopt a “new thinking” as to the cost of marketing the country at trade fairs as opposed to direct marketing.
As part of the new branding Sri Lanka will for the first time highlight priority areas like Jaffna, Passikudah, Kalpitiya and Ella with an emphasis on China and India as these two continue to generate the numbers in addition to group travellers from Europe.
The minister noted South Africa to be a key market to tap whereas they would have to adopt a wait and see policy in terms of Russia due to the Ukrainian crisis. South Africa Tourism was recently in the country on a road show promoting travel by Sri Lankans to the country.
Tabulating Statistics
The government was not keen on buffering up the statistics to showcase a higher number of visitors simply on the basis of anyone entering Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Minister Dissanayaka said it was questionable how a three-hour long transit passenger could be considered a tourist.
“In my view we should not buffer up the statistics but work at the real tourist who comes” into the country, the minister said, adding that whether the 1.5 million travellers to Sri Lanka is an actual tourist is to be seen.
Kalpitiya plans
He said they have already had initial discussions on the Kalpitiya project that had been a long-drawn issue with the tenders put on hold by the former Treasury Secretary.
With 14 islands available for tourism development, the minister pointed out that they would be re-visiting the entire project and calling for international bids. Commenting on the issues concerning the fisher folk in the area, he confirmed there was a re-location issue but explained that they were currently in talks with the bishop of the area and other local authorities.
However, he asserted “no tyrannical” method would be adopted in re-locating the fisher folk or in addressing their issues.
Irregular practices
The minister observed that previously the Sri Lanka Tourism boards were not properly formulated nor were they functioning. In this context, the present administration had ensured there was participation from all the key industry associations and they were currently formulating the boards with the new Chairman Paddy Withana.
Previously, the board was not formulated for a long time and it was not properly constituted, Mr. Dissanayaka pointed out but they were ensuring everything would fall into place.