Prime Minister wants to divert Europeans visiting Tunisia to Sri Lanka
In the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Tunisia, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has asked the tourism industry to grab the opportunity to divert European tourists visiting that destination to Sri Lanka.
A follow-up meeting in this regard was held last Tuesday with the Premier and the tourism industry which had made a presentation on the plan for a quick advertising blitz to attract British, French and German holidaymakers to the island. Mr. Wickremesinghe was keen on establishing an action plan to get some of those tourists that would have cancelled bookings to Tunisia to visit Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Paddy Vithana told the Business Times.
The campaign in this regard would be carried out together with SriLankan Airlines as part of a destination marketing strategy, it was stated. The campaign would involve using the electronic media targeting twitter and Facebook that is scheduled for August, September and October with competitions and a familiarization tour for journalists with the assistance of all airlines, industry sources said.
A roadshow has also been planned for the key markets of UK, France, Germany and Italy for which Mr. Wickremesinghe said he would give the go ahead to carry out this campaign.