Political impasse: It’s “So Sri Lanka”

Reeling from three weeks of political turmoil Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has witnessed cancellations though few, while heading towards the peak winter season. Added to this is a further delay in the global promotion campaign that makes one wonder if this is not “So Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka had projected about 250,000 arrivals in December going by the previ- ous years’ figures for the season. But officials at Sri Lanka Tourism note that figures will drop. Sri Lanka expected to achieve 2.3-2.5 million visitors to the country this year but that number is likely to come down due to the prevailing conditions.

This dip is expected to continue into the next year up to March during the winter season with at least one firm noting

that a series of groups that were scheduled to arrive from December to March were cancelled.

Some of the key markets impacted were mostly Europe and India. MICE events have remained on schedule, however, some hotels have noted that certain international conferences have been postponed.

With the boards of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau ( SLCB) and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Au t h o r i t y ( SLTDA) dissolved since the October 26 saga and now with uncertainty prevailing over the presence or absence of a subject minister, the global promo- tion campaign is set to get delayed.

The global promotion campaign was scheduled to kick off by March at the Berlin travel fair, ITB, however, if agencies are not selected and the representing companies in the respective markets not picked out then there could be further delays for the long overdue campaign to get underway.

Meanwhile the digital marketing campaign is getting underway in the key markets of UK, France, Germany, India and China. The global promotion campaign is scheduled to be held in these five markets as well as in the Scandinavian, Benelux, West Asian countries and Australia and Japan.