NPP wants to brand and market destination Jaffna
Jaffna, the Northern Province that still goes unexplored by most tourists is to be opened up with proper branding and a marketing focus as was considered a long awaited need ever since the war ended.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Buddhika Hewawasam speaking with The Sunday Times Business on Thursday said that they have plans to market and brand Jaffna tourism in a bid to showcase to the world the uniqueness of this province and entice travelers to this region.
Amidst plans to open up Jaffna, the new authorities are already in discussion with investors from India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand looking favourably that will help in increasing the room capacity in the region ahead of promoting the region.
Lands around the Jaffna airport have potential for investments in establishing hotels for the boutique category and the larger room capacities as well, Mr. Hewawasam said.
“We also need to do much to promote the Northern peninsula,” he said adding that the authorities are currently looking at a comprehensive strategy in promoting and branding the provincial tourism as well in a bid to market Jaffna as a destination.
He noted that they hope to grant clearance for lands in these area including any privately owned lands suitable for investment purposes in the tourism sector.
Authorities are looking at providing necessary clearance for lands ahead of releasing or leasing them out to investors in a bid to cut down time on obtaining the necessary approvals prior to establishing their projects.
Mr. Hewawasam also said that they were looking at increasing room capacity through the necessary investments but particularly in the three and four star categories.
While the inventory in Colombo, Kalutara to Bentota and Negombo have improved but incentives need to be provided to those willing to establish boutique and niche tourism projects.
With President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka’s intention of prioritizing tourism plans are underway to establish zones in the tourism sites that will ensure that investments into these areas can be fast-tracked by generating speedy approvals. This can be achieved by ensuring that necessary approvals needed for land clearance particularly from the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) can be obtained ahead of providing these lands to the prospective investors.
Meanwhile, it was noted that state assets of a heritage nature like the Nuwara Eliya Post Office building will not be leased out to private investors in future. “We don’t want that to be changed or altered, it can do better without converting to a hotel,” he said.
The SLTDA is also likely to review the promotional campaign that has yet to be launched which has been readied by the previous administration.
Mr. Hewawasam said that there would be a discussion on the action plan and following that they require the green light to go ahead and launch it. This particular global campaign is said to have obtained the initial green light by the industry and as such the authorities do not wish to stop this promotion.
“This campaign has obtained the green light by the industry and so we must respect the knowledge of those stakeholders and we must sit with them and see how to bridge any other gaps,” the SLTDA Chairman said.
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