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By Charumini de Silva
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has hit another stumbling block with the much-awaited digital and global
promotional campaigns being put off for another few more months due to the heads of the Ministry and
promotion bureau being changed.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) originally aimed to kick off the global campaign in May
with Rs.3 billion to be utilised for global campaign, while Rs.500 million would be spend on the first-ever
digital marketing campaign.
Although the Tourism Development Ministry was quite optimistic and confidently announced several
times since May until this month that it would launch a comprehensive destination campaign initially
through digital platforms and thereafter through all media, the Daily FT learns that it will be further
delayed for few months.
SLTPB announced the launch of the campaignin April and in May it said it would spend around Rs.300 to
500 millionfor the short-term digital campaign, which would be carried out in two phases – withthe first
focusing on Germany, France and the UK, while the second would focus on China and India towards the
latter part of the year.
The SLTPB was banking heavy on social media presence and customer previews on travel and hotel
platforms. The bureau also called for expressions of interest (EOI) by the end of April for local and
foreign parties to embark on the digital marketing campaign.
Currently, the authorities are in the final meeting to sign the EOIs, the Daily FT learns.
According to sources, the digital marketing campaign will be delayed by a month, while the global
promotional campaign will be pushed towards the end of the year.
“The promotional campaigns are proceeding. We are a little behind the schedule due to various
bureaucratic steps that need to be followed under good governance procedures, but it is on track,”
SLTPB Director General SutheshSubramaniam told Daily FT.
In terms of the implications of the prolonged delay of the campaign on the industry, he stressed the
relevant authorities were cautious on Return on Investment (RoI), thus the whole exercise was
undergoing a number of proceedings that are necessary which includes calling for EOIs, shortlisting,
screening proposals, selecting, briefing and commencing.
“The objective of this campaign is to strive to promote and raise awareness on Sri Lanka tourism in the
digital space with strong investment and focused attention on reaching high-yielding markets,” he
added.
In April, former Ministry Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa also said that promotional campaigns of Sri
Lanka Tourism were stifled due to unpaid bills running into Rs. 500 millionto three international
broadcasting agencies, while the institution was also grappling with Rs. 600 million additional liabilities
owing to issues in procedures followed in retaining the services.
