CNN blitz for three more months

Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities have spelled out plans to continue to feature the destination on CNN amidst concerns that the international news channel is not the most popular among viewers.

Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga told the Business Times on the sidelines of a media briefing in Colombo this week that they have discussed with the CNN news channel to increase the advertising of Sri Lanka as a destination for another 3-month period.

The media blitz on CNN was previously scheduled for a three month period and will now be extended, the minister said.

An international news networks’ rating has stated that CNN has been losing its viewers in double digits in the past few years.

“CNN saw double digit audience losses from last year in prime time, but it remained a top 10 basic cable network across the 24- hour time period ( 6 a. m. – 6 a. m.),” the report stated.

CNN saw double digit audience losses from last year in prime time, but it remained a top 10 basic cable network across the 24-hour time period (6 a.m. – 6 a.m.),” the report stated.

Minister Amaratunga pointed out that the government has plans to increase destination coverage on the other networks like Al Jazeera, BBC and the India Weekly which they believe would ensure them to capture an audience interested in visiting the country.

Currently discussions are underway with these organisations to advertise Sri Lanka as a destination on their networks and the plans are still being worked out, the minister said. In addition to this media blitz, the digital marketing campaign that authorities were working on has obtained cabinet approval, Mr. Amaratunga said. He noted that they would be going ahead with the campaign and it is likely to kick off in the early week of October. Meanwhile, in other promotional moves the new branding for Sri Lanka Tourism is still being worked out and if authorities are able to overcome the bureaucratic processes involved in time then the plan to launch it at the World Travel Mart in London could get underway in November.

The minister also said the launch would be carried out in Sri Lanka itself or better still later at the ITB travel fair in Berlin next year.