New tourism magazine launched to promote country

By Cheranka Mendis

Focusing on the need to communicate and promote Sri Lanka’s popular and yet-unidentified tourism hotspots in the attempt to attract 2.5 million tourists within the next two years, a magazine by the name ‘Sri Lanka: The Treasure island’ was launched along with its website yesterday by Global Media Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.

A monthly publication, the magazine attempts to list out the country’s many wonders and other useful information for travellers and tourists. Supporting the present Government policies in making the country the next regional travel and tourism hub, the content of the publication outlines ongoing infrastructure developments and other facilities to ensure the continuous safety and security of travellers. An exclusive tour guide will also be distributed along with the magazine’s inaugural issue.

“The magazine and the website will act as catalyst in promoting Sri Lanka as a diverse location that feeds into many spheres besides the traditional sun and surf image,” Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Harsha Udayakantha Peiris stated.

“The diversity of the country is such that tourism includes avenues such as eco, agro, socio-cultural, ayurvedic, and industrial areas that would help boost the tour and travel trade in the country.”

Former Sri Lanka Tourist Board Chairman H.M.S. Samaranayake sharing insights in to the current trends of tourism acknowledged the importance of looking for alternative markets other than the traditional Western and European markets to achieve industry targets.

“It is an achievable target given that the country focuses on looking for other markets such as China which is growing in their outbound market segment,” Samaranayake expressed. He noted that the China outbound market has grown from 10 million in 2010 to 83 million in 2012. It has also been predicted that the Chinese outbound market will reach one billion by 2016, he said. “With all our connections with China I don’t know why we haven’t been able to attract more Chinese as tourists. We must look for new markets to achieve the intended number.”

Noting the importance of proper information, Samaranayake added: “At the point of origin tourists buy a product which is invisible and intangible. The decision is made based on the information we supply, either written or audio visual.”

With the tourism industry focusing on selling the country’s beaches, culture and its abundant nature to tourists for long years, it is now time to look for other tags to mark Sri Lanka under.  “We need to attract alternative destinations for tourists to experience,” Samaranayake urged, observing that 30% of tourists coming in to Sri Lanka are repeat tourists and hence the need to promote new attractions that are not popularly known is increasing. The magazine will be available on international airlines, a number of key tourist markets such as India, Japan, China, France, USA, UK, Italy and the Middle East, major mega shopping malls, popular bookstores, star class hotels and restaurants, and a number of other selected outlets frequented by travellers and tourists. A limited number of copies will also be distributed to schools and public libraries free of charge.

With the instalment of the latest QR-code on the bottom left on the cover page instead of the traditional barcode, readers also gain access to a mobile application which provides daily updates posted on the website. 

– Pic by Lasantha Kumara