CNN campaign in mid-Feb.
View(s):Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga has been able to convince his cabinet colleagues, overriding tourism industry opinion, to go ahead with a CNN advertising campaign in mid-February.
Despite continued protests by the industry stating that a media advertising campaign was not the best option, Mr. Amaratunga has bypassed the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) board to obtain cabinet approval to advertise with CNN for a period of about four months.
The “industry talks nonsense,” the minister told the Business Times responding to the opposition the tourism industry had made regarding the media blitz.
The minister said, “We can bypass the board and go straight to cabinet” and insisted that this had been practiced several times in the past as well.
The recently-held Choir Games also received approval from the Cabinet by adopting a similar procedure, he stated.
The minister pointed out that the campaign would get board approval for its content and they would also look at advertising with India Weekly, Al Jazeera, BBC and CCTV.
The industry believes that advertising with these channels would not target the relevant audience.
Mr. Amaratunga said that the digital marketing campaign is set to get off the ground by April this year and is believed to be on time.
All new appointments for the positions of Director General at the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau made vacant with the stepping down of Malraj Kiriella and the sacking of Udaya Nanayakkara, respectively would be made once the local government election concludes, the minister said.
| “Tourism industry ‘no no’s’ John on CNN campaign” | |
| Right of Reply Tourism Minister John Amaratunga has sent the following response to the news item under the above heading published in the Business Times last week: “The entire report is based on the superfluous comments of unnamed ‘industry leaders’ and thereby lacks credibility. It smacks of efforts by a few disgruntled elements to portray the proposed campaign as one that would not benefit the country. It is somewhat strange that the majority of the ‘industry leaders’ who I meet on a regular basis are in fact fully supportive of this move. It must be noted that this is not the first time that Sri Lanka Tourism will be using CNN for a destination promotion campaign. In fact a similar campaign was aired on CNN in 2014 and was hailed as highly successful by the very same ‘industry leaders.’ The only reason we could not execute a similar campaign earlier was because the bills for the 2014 campaign remained unpaid until a few months ago when we took measures to settle the arrears. Therefore I fail to comprehend how CNN, which was the platform of choice in 2014 has suddenly become ‘not proper for the destination’, when the top five source markets remain the same as before. It is also quite puzzling that the so called ‘industry leaders’ who now supposedly lament over spending on a global TV campaign remained mute when SLTPB funds were being spent on election campaigns of the ruling party in 2014. There is also no truth to the statement that the digital campaign is at a standstill when in fact the procurement process for same is well underway. It is just that the bureaucratic procedures such as specified time frames for applications cannot be expedited and this is what is perceived as delay. The CNN campaign is therefore an interim measure that has received the endorsement of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management.” |