Tourism Minister John entangled in promotional disruption

“The industry is very angry with us,” Minister Amaratunga explained

Sri Lanka’s tourism body is faced with issues on finding ways not only ways to overcome delays in organising its long, overdue promotional campaign but also decide who the next consultant for the project will be; McKinsey & Company or someone from Down Under (Australia).

Christian Affairs and Tourism Minister John Amaratunga speaking with the Business Times on Tuesday lamented that in the face of “fighting hard” to get work carried out on the digital marketing and global promotion campaigns now the Promotion Bureau’s chief Udaya Nanayakkara wants a consultant from Australia to act as the agency for the project.

The minister said that they are trying hard working in line with the regulations and fighting hard but fail to even hold a meeting. The previous week they faced the problem of one additional secretary getting transferred and this week the additional secretary reporting ill.

“The industry is very angry with us,” Minister Amaratunga explained adding that now he was faced with a new problem of Mr. Nanayakkara wanting to bring on an Australian agency to run the project compared to the already available McKinsey advocated by the Prime Minister’s office. This US-based consultancy is already involved in some state-funded projects in Sri Lanka.

Some are trying to hire a separate agency, the minister said adding that he would be calling for a meeting to discuss this issue with the relevant officials.

It was pointed out that the board had arrived at the decision to obtain the services of this Australian agency to make progress on the project.

Minister Amaratunga noted that McKinsey was the right people for the job.

In the meantime, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam pointed out that nothing on this Australian agency matter has been finalised by the board.

He pointed out that on the contrary there was no such agency either and that he had just updated the minister as well on the subject.

“We are looking at various options available and there are different types of assistance that we have been look- ing at,” he explained.

Certain initiatives were carried out with the assistance of McKinsey and the digital marketing campaign is a part of it, he said.

Meanwhile the digital campaign is close to calling Expressions of Interest (EOI) for its Europe campaign in September/October under Phase I of the project, Mr. Balasubramaniam said.

Phase II of the project would involve a campaign for India and China for which EOIs will be called early next year based on the progress achieved under the first phase, he said.

In addition, the MD pointed out the bureau was also involved in promoting the destination online by bringing down bloggers and journalists from various parts of the world.

Moreover, the SLTPB will be carrying out a campaign to feature Sri Lanka in online and print magazines. The bureau has also planned to conduct outdoor advertising in Germany and the UK with a total spend this year allocated for promotions at Rs.300 million.