SLTPB looks to fast-track process of tourism digital promotion campaign with CCEM move

• New guidelines to work under a PPP model provides greater flexibility to carry out comprehensive campaign
• SLTPB in discussion with PPP Unit of Treasury to explore if the campaign could go ahead with January schedule

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) said the decision by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) to suspend the bureau’s committee working on the digital marketing campaign was to ‘fast track’ the processes.

SLTPB Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam told Daily FT that the country has not been successful in carrying out a ‘steady’ promotional campaign in the post-war era hence there was a greater urgency to fast track digital promotional campaign and get it off the ground.

According to him, the previous process was to be carried out in two phases, where five-month digital promotional initiative covering Sri Lanka’s prime European markets including Germany, UK and France, while focus on China and India was in the second phase of the campaign.

However, under the guidance of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Tourism Development Ministry Secretary is now tasked to formulate request for proposals (RFPs) within the next two weeks collectively with the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Unit of the Treasury for digital promotions for tourism.

Balasubramaniam noted that SLTPB was working in close collaboration with the PPP Unit of the Treasury to expedite the digital promotion campaign and by next week they would be in a better position to divulge further details on the timeline of the project and see if the digital promotional campaign could go ahead with the January schedule as previously planned.

Thereby, he said the new guidelines provided them greater flexibility to roll out a comprehensive digital promotional campaign. “PPP model has more flexibility to undertake such projects. I think we might be able to go for RFPs straight away. This approach will help to reach out for quality and value for money,” he added.

Further it was pointed that carrying out a major digital campaign was critical at this point where tourist arrival numbers were affected due to various reasons including partial closure of Bandaranaike International Airport, floods and dengue epidemic during the year.

Although the ministerial committee appointed wanted to expedite the tourism digital promotion campaign, the Government’s stringent procurement procedures were not helpful in getting it off the ground.

“The Government procurement processes are microscoped. It goes into 100% of the details, which was time-consuming. While that is good, we must understand that Government looks at tourism industry as a low-hanging fruit. Tourism can generate foreign exchange and employment faster than Foreign Direct Investments and exports. Therefore, it is important to leverage on the digital promotion campaign,” he pointed out.

At present there are over 300,000 SMEs engaged in the tourism industry and the SLTPB believes the number of employment opportunities could reach half a million within a short span of time, if the necessary guidelines were in place.

He acknowledged that the Tourism Development Ministry did not exhaust any funds on the international consultant McKinsey team of experts who worked on useful promotional material.

Justifying the instructions given to create a post for a CEO for Digital Tourism Promotion and appoint a suitable expert, Balasubramaniam said: “SLTPB has been promoting Sri Lanka as a destination to the world, but we really have not had an expert to navigate us in the digital age to endorse the country in virtual platforms. It is necessary to have an expert to be a part of this.”