US$6 mln for tourism global promo push

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry’s long overdue global promotion campaign will get a further boost with the planned investment doubling to US$6 million.

The original budget for the global campaign was US$ 3 million but Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (sltpb) Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara told the Business Times that they would increase this figure as the current amount is not sufficient.

In this respect, he pointed out that they were adjusting the SLTPB budget by pruning down on certain areas and enhancing the allocation for promotion.

The global promotion campaign is being worked out but is still at the early stage and it was noted that they were yet to obtain a consultant to work on this project as well.

Authorities were also involved in Colombo as a destination for short stays for regional markets,” he said.

The government is readying to present the request for global proposals for the digital marketing campaign of the tourism industry.

The Tourism and Christian Affairs Ministry’s procurement committee is currently finalising details on the terms of reference before calling for global offers, Mr. Nanayakkara said.

He noted that international consultant McKinsey, appointed as consultants in this regard, was assisting the authorities in the formulation of the Request for Proposals (RFPs) to be released any time soon.

By the end of November the contract should be awarded to the selected agency to handle the digital marketing campaign for Sri Lanka Tourism, he explained.