Does Sri Lanka have a proper marketing plan for SL tourism?

Use marketing communications to uplift the brand image of Sri Lanka and showcase our uniqueness compared to markets in Southeast Asia

Introduction

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry contributes 12% to the GDP currently. All the Southeast Asian markets are doing better than Sri Lanka when it comes to tourism, the reason being inconsistent marketing and promotion strategies which change with the change of each regime in power. Thus, SL tourism is stagnating. Another reason is that the tourism targets are not challenging enough compared to other Southeast Asian markets.

Sri Lanka received a revenue of $ 2 billion in 2023 and $ 3 billion in 2024 which are not too impressive given our potential.

Liberalisation of Government policies, visa reforms, infrastructure, and targeted marketing activities are pivotal for a great tourism promotional campaign. It seems so easy; however, Sri Lanka has not done a good job on this to date. With so much to offer, SL is ranked at the 76th position in the Travel and Tourism Development Index in 2024.

Target market analysis

An analysis should be done to find out who comes to Southeast Asia as tourists and for what purposes. Sri Lanka needs to get a portion or grab market share from other Southeast Asian countries. We also need to analyse the psychographics and demographics of our potential customers. Marketing is “satisfying the needs of your customer”. We need to keep this important fact in mind.

We need to increase the share of visitors from markets such as India, which is currently the market from which we receive the most number of tourists. Since India is a large country, we need to focus on the geographic areas in India from where these tourists visit such as Gujarat and Maharashtra. Whilst trying to obtain more visitors from existing markets, we need to identify new markets. Also, we need to target customers who have purchasing power in countries such as Europe, USA, UK, Japan, Australia, and the Middle East.

Targeted customers could be segmented into individuals and young couples, families, businesses, and retirees. Market segmentation is vital in this endeavour.

As business travellers to Sri Lanka accounts for a tiny fraction the opportunity and the potential for doing business in an exotic country is vast if promoted properly.

Marketing strategy

Use marketing communications to uplift the brand image of Sri Lanka and showcase our uniqueness compared to markets in Southeast Asia. Our USP (Unique Selling Proposition) could be the hospitality of Sri Lankans. As Sri Lankans are hospitable by nature, to experience this, they should come to Sri Lanka. In my opinion, Sri Lanka is the most hospitable country in SEA. Thus, we need to have a thematic campaign highlighting this aspect. Social media (digital media), traditional as well as digital PR, media advertising, testimonial advertising, trade shows, fairs, and exhibitions such as ITB Berlin and World Travel Market in the UK can be utilised. Influencers from each potential market can be used to communicate the message, increase top-of-the-mind recall, and create awareness. 

Sri Lanka has to execute creative Public Relations (PR) campaigns to increase credibility and design and deploy an informative, modern, easily accessible website. As PR is considered the secret weapon of integrated marketing communications a precise PR campaign with traditional media as well as digital PR is vital to the success of the promotional campaign. Interwoven and consistency are of paramount importance

We must use leisure and travel magazines such as Femina, Outlook Traveler, Lonely Planet India, and Conde Naste India. In the USA, AARP the Magazine, National Geographic, and Time. In the UK, National Geographic, Conde Naste Traveller, and National Geo Traveller, and the Ahlan Magazine UAE, Abu Dhabi Tempo, and Emirates Home for the UAE, or any other suitable country specific magazines to communicate with the target market.

Sri Lanka has to execute creative Public Relations (PR) campaigns to increase credibility and design and deploy an informative, modern, easily accessible website. As PR is considered the secret weapon of integrated marketing communications a precise PR campaign with traditional media as well as digital PR is vital to the success of the promotional campaign. Interwoven and consistency are of paramount importance.

Positioning

“No land like other for hospitality”

Budgets

As Sri Lanka’s tourism sector contributes 12% to the GDP, a suitable budget should be allocated accordingly.

Key Performance Indicators

Website traffic, conversion rates, and social media engagements are some of the KPIs one can use to evaluate the progress. Revenue growth and number of tourist arrivals are other KPIs that can be used.

Date plan

For each execution stage, a date plan has to be worked out.

Vietnam as a case study

Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (NAT) reported that 8 localities generated VND 1 trillion (approx. $ 39.5 billion) in tourism revenue during the Lunar New Year holidays this year in February 2025. They attribute their success to favourable visa policies and marketing initiatives. Ho Chi Minh City by itself generated $ 303 million. This figure is more than double that of Hanoi which came second with $ 139 million. According to the China Trading desk, the figures rose by 35% vs. last year and 70% compared to pre-COVID levels in 2019. Vietnam welcomed 17.58 million international tourists and 110 million domestic travellers in 2024 generating a total of $ 33.9 billion. In 2025, their target is to attract 22–23 million international tourists and 120–130 million domestic travellers. To achieve this target, their strategy is visa reforms, government initiatives, and digital tourism marketing. Vietnam is in the 59th position out of 119 economies in the Travel and Tourism Development Index in 2024.

The way forward

The authorities have to walk the talk. Immediate action is needed as it is already the end of the first quarter of 2025. No campaign launch is visible as of today. If Sri Lanka executes the above suggestions or similar, the results will not be far away.

(The writer is a PR Consultant and a graduate of the University of Kelaniya.)