Tourism development gets Rs.4 billion funding for 2016
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has been allocated Rs.4 billion by the Treasury to carry out infrastructure and development work this year, Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said. He told the Business Times on Wednesday,that out of the Rs.4 billion allocation, a sum of Rs.3 billion would be spent on the construction of a convention centre in a Colombo land for which would be identified by the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry. Minister Amaratunga said that they had written to the Megapolis Ministry in this regard and expected a feedback within a few weeks.
Promotion Bureaus would obtain a separate income from the airport levies, the minister said adding that if there was insufficient funding to carry out promotions then they could obtain moneys from the Finance Ministry. A marketing programme has been drawn up for this year but the tourism industry is concerned that the main global promotional campaign is getting further delayed with the lack of an advertising agency.
Hoteliers and travel agents complain that they were unhappy that things are slow to take off and that is a worry.
It was pointed out that without an adequate advertising agency the right infrastructure is not in place to carry out the global campaign despite selecting a PR agency last year. However, the minister pointed out that they had designed a promotional plan for this year and said that the relevant authorities would ensure that the promotional campaign gets underway with the selection of an advertising agent. In the meantime, a cabinet sub-committee has been appointed to bring in regulation together with the Central Cultural Fund, the National parks, Wildlife Conservation and Whale and Dolphin watching.
Minister Amaratunga noted that they would ensure fees levied to visit these places could be made at one location as this was a long felt need by the travel industry and facilitate for these payments to be made online. In addition, authorities would also be enforcing the Tourist Police to be situated in key areas to ensure there is no harassment to visitors from beach boys and touts to ensure safety and security of the guests.
Authorities will also be reviewing the price structure of tourist attractions, the minister said adding that this would be carried out to ensure the fees structure was in line with the rest of the world. Marketing Sri Lanka online as a tourist destination at a cost of Rs.200 million would be carried out this year targeting the main tourist generating countries.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) is awaiting cabinet approval to carry out the online campaign via Google in the main tourist generating markets like the UK, Germany, France, Middle East and India. However, the campaign to be carried out for Russia and China would be through search engines Yandex and Baidu in order to access these markets. In addition another campaign has been worked out with SriLankan Airlines through their agencies to do some advertising mainly outdoor marketing and using other platforms in social media like Facebook and Twitter specifically for the UK, Germany, France and Japan. In addition, an underground billboard campaign would also kick off in April that would be carried out for a period of four months.