Tourism in Sri Lanka is getting a much needed makeover with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) gearing towards a post war scenario with several major annual events to be held across the country coupled with aggressive PR campaigns both locally and abroad. In an interview with the The Sunday Times FT the SLTPB’s Assistant Director of Strategic Planning Asoka Perera, Assistant Director of Marketing and Events Seroshi Nandasiri and Destination Social Responsibility’s Shafraz Farook said, the current political situation in the country and the anticipation of the end of the decades long conflict is the ideal time to gear up for 2010.
he SLTPB has a new branding strategy that will be unveiled in the next few months, aiming to capture the diversity and bring in different aspects of the country. “We want to tell people that this small island has a lot to offer,” Mr. Farook said. “This is the ideal time. We want to tell people Sri Lanka is now open so come now.”
Travel advisories have been softened over the last couple of months and there has been an increase in communication between the SLTPB with the Sri Lankan ambassadors abroad and the embassies in Colombo. “We are talking to the ambassadors in Sri Lanka and even took them on an ambassador’s tour to the cultural triangle last year that was successful,” Mr. Farook said.
Another trip to the southern province has been planned for the ambassadors next month, again to showcase Sri Lanka, what it has to offer and to provide an opportunity to get a first-hand account of the actual ground situation.”
Mr. Perera said, “We are positioning ourselves for the future. All the activities we are doing now are geared for the post war scenario. Whatever happened last week, we have been living with for the past 25 years but the international market has not so we also need to be sensitive to that.” He pointed out that despite the decades of conflict tourists have still continued to come to the island. |
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