Cabinet paper to award advertising campaign next week

Minister Amaratunga said he would present the Cabinet paper to award the US $ 650, 000 advertising campaign to CNN during the next week’s Cabinet Ministers’ meeting.

Amaratunga was scheduled to present the Cabinet paper yesterday but couldn’t do it as President Maithripala Sirisena reshuffled the Cabinet of Ministers for the fourth time, since his government came into power in 2015.

Meanwhile, according to Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam, the long-awaited US $ 3.5 million digital marketing campaign is likely to kick off shortly.

Balasubramaniam said the six-month digital marketing campaign will kick off in European markets on June 1 and it will be launched in India and China after 10 days.

In addition, SLTPB also plans to host a meeting with all foreign diplomats in Sri Lanka to inform about the current security situations in the country, following recent incidents in Kandy and Mirissa.

Amaratunga said that Sri Lanka didn’t experience any cancellations of bookings due to the Mirissa incident. However, he admitted that the incident led to The Netherland and UK to issue mild travel warnings to their citizens visiting Sri Lanka.

The minister noted that in order to ensure the safety of tourists visiting to the country, SLTDA officials, Inspector General of Police and the Ministry of Law & Order have launched permanent police patrols in tourism zones.