Tourism PR campaign gets cabinet nod
The much-awaited PR campaign has finally gained Cabinet approval this week, giving a go-ahead to the industry’s strategy to promote the destination and bring back visitors to Sri Lanka.
Approval was granted for the implementation of a short term Public Relations programme for a period of 45 days and a six month advertising programme in order to re-establish Sri Lanka tourism brand name, according to an official announcement.
A campaign that had been kept far behind on the agenda of the cabinet had obtained approval to go ahead just this week with a publicity promotion that the industry believes would definitely help the industry to move on.
This PR campaign had been worked out with the authorities and the industry in a bid to overcome the crisis in the aftermath of the April 21 Easter Sunday attacks.
Hotels in the country are currently faced with a dearth of guests occupying the numerous rooms that increased in number over the past decade since the war with the LTTE ended in 2009.
Several countries have softened the travel advisories and urged their respective citizens to exercise caution when travelling to Sri Lanka.
Hoteliers like Chandra Wickremesinghe of Maalu Maalu resorts noted that everyone from government to opposition to military need to speak in one voice to assure a lifting of travel advisories that is likely to take more time.
On the other hand tour operators like Mahen Kariyawasam of Andrews Travel were worried that with airlines having cut down on flights wondered how they would come back.
Airlines like Emirates that have cut down on the number of flights and frequencies to Colombo have however, made a decision to inform all staff in Dubai at Emirates that those travelling to Sri Lanka could negotiate with hotels and Destination Management Companies to obtain good rates, according to the airline’s Country Manager Chandana De Silva. The airline is currently facing a 50 per cent reduction in load factor.
A number of airlines have reduced flights to Colombo and cut down on the number of aircraft operating to the destination as well.
Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and India relaxed the travel bans, following in the footsteps of China which made the first move in this direction last week.
Promotions Bureau chief Kishu Gomes said that they expect a further relaxation of the travel advisories by next month as well.
Cabinet has also approved the implementation of a combined promotion programme with overseas tour operators who bring in more than 250 tourists in one instance, using Rs.150 million in order to promote tourism in
Sri Lanka. This campaign is expected to generate interest from foreign tour operators that would be selling Sri Lanka and who would be given a further financial inducement to promote the destination by local authorities.
Rolling out the red carpet for visitors from India, the tourism industry in Sri Lanka will be looking at Rs.100 million cash infusion from the Treasury to get onboard with a discounted joint offer to holiday on the isle. This campaign is still being worked out and it is not clear whether this would require cabinet approval as the authorities were only supporting the initiative and was mostly a joint effort by the tourism industry.