‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ a 4-mth tourism recovery campaign kicks off
With Sri Lanka being well known for its warm hospitality and the heartfelt smile that keeps reminding tourists to revisit Sri Lanka, industry stakeholders kicked off a new campaign titled ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’.
Tourism being one of the worst hit sector since the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019, the industry has faced many challenges with the current economic crisis being the latest. The concept of the campaign was developed by a young team at NKAR Travels and Tours (Pvt) Ltd where the tourism industry and the people of Sri Lanka takes ownership of the brand.
On Tuesday at the launch of the campaign held at the Ramada Hotel in Colombo, Nilmin Nanayakkara, Managing Director of NKAR Travels and Tours stressed, “All of us in the tourism industry are struggling to smile due to the loan repayment commitments we are bound to. When we go to the banks to restructure the loan schemes, even the bank officers forget to smile. But during COVID-19 when tourists were stranded in Sri Lanka, it’s the people of this country who put a smile on their faces by providing free accommodation and free food until they found their way back to their respective countries.”
A large population of the community is engaged in tourism and this campaign is designed as a national campaign with no strings attached, added Mr. Nanayakkara while elaborating that it’s the people of Sri Lanka who must be the reason for tourists to revisit the country.
Minister of Tourism, Harin Fernando at the event stated, “We have many shortfalls in the industry, but we got to smile to get through them. For anything sad, happy or angry we Sri Lankans smile. There is so much we can do as an industry. We are a resilient nation and we don’t give up.”
Mr. Fernando quoted Mother Teresa as “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
He also noted that the industry is targeting a revenue of US$ 1.7 billion and one million tourists by the end of this year. ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ campaign will profiled at the World Trade Market to be held in November in London. “We want to make Colombo different for Christmas this December. We are also looking at the Japanese and Korean markets to boost tourism,” noted Mr. Fernando.
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