Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts-Vice President, Marketing and Events, Dileep Mudadeniya, SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando, Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Siripala Hettiarachchi and Dentsu Grant Managing Director-Neela Marikkar at the launch event. Picture by Ruwan de Silva
Sri Lanka Tourism in an ambitious drive to achieve future growth aspirations of local tourism industry will come up with Sri Lanka’s first ever integrated global promotional campaign, which is slated to be implemented during the third quarter of this year, says Kimarli Fernando -Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
According to Fernando, under this campaign, destination representative companies in eight key markets and PR agencies in another eight will be appointed. “They would be promoting Sri Lanka by doing articles, talking to travel agents and talking to the media in that particular country. In addition, we will be spending for the global promotional campaign, depending on our income for each year. Or in other words, we will be spending from Sri Lanka Tourism Board income, Fernando told a media briefing held yesterday in Colombo to announce the launch of ‘One Island, A thousand Treasures’ destination promotion campaign, an initiative undertaken by Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts to unveil the unknown stories behind Sri Lanka and paint a unique picture of culturally relevant stories just waiting to be explored by the world.
In the history of Sri Lanka tourism, Fernando said people have not done any integrated global promotion campaign. Moreover, Sri Lanka Tourism with the support of the European Union is promoting wellness tourism in Germany and France in a big way. Wellness which include Ayurveda, Helawedakama, contemporary wellness is an area that we are focusing on.
Speaking further Fernando said the registration of home stays in the last two years has increased. “During the 2020-21 period, home stays were impacted in terms of bookings but I’m pleased to say that booking for home stays have significantly increased especially during this year and this is an area that we will continue to support.”
According to Fernando, a travel app will also be launched soon. Speaking at the event, Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Siripala Hettiarachchi expressed hope that Sri Lanka will be able to achieve 1.1 million tourists by the end of 2021 and 7 million tourists with an income of USD 10 billion by 2030. He also requested the private sector to come up with new initiatives in terms of promoting Sri Lanka as a must see tourist destination among global travelers.
Add new comment