CNN media blitz to get 3 % increase in footfalls
View(s):Sri Lanka hopes to increase its footfalls by about 3 per cent following the US$650, 000 CNN media blitz scheduled to kick off next month.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam told the Business Times on Monday that plans were underway to kick off the CNN campaign to promote the destination early next month.
He said that this was taken as an interim measure since no campaign had been carried out during the last four years.
The campaign is expected to create awareness about Sri Lanka in the global market and aims to attract the high spending traveller to the country, he explained.
The CNN campaign would be targeting the Asia Pacific region, Europe, West Asia and would be displayed in all 42 airports in the US and is set to be viewed by at least 254 million viewers.
The CNN blitz will be broadcast on the channel for a period of three months and is likely to increase the arrivals by about 3 per cent if all other factors stay good, Mr. Balasubramaniam said.
The campaign would be aired across different timings daily during prime time slots and even lesser prime time slots, he said.
In addition he pointed out that Sri Lanka would be featured on the “Great Big Story” documentary as well highlighting the top three attractions in the country as part of a CNN editorial pick.
The CNN campaign ran into problems at the start due to issues pertaining to the method adopted to obtain approvals as a result of which the board and the management finally arrived at a consensus and worked out matters amiably to go ahead with the advertisement.
Initially the industry representatives on the board disapproved of the campaign stating they required the global promotion campaign to be expedited but later agreed to it once the process to gain approvals was adhered to.