Govt. to expedite Rs.1 bn promo campaign
The government has plans to expedite a Rs.1 billion promotional campaign in a bid to overcome the drop experienced recently in tourist arrivals as a result of the war in West Asia.
Deputy Tourism Minister Prof. Ruwan Ranasinghe speaking with the Sunday Times Business said that a Rs.1billion tender is to be finalised for which the evaluation is being carried out for the Australian market to conduct a digital and PR campaign in about two weeks’ time.
Sri Lanka will also be carrying out similar campaigns in other key markets like India, China, Spain, the UK and in European markets as well, he said.
However in respect of these markets Prof. Ranasinghe said they were awaiting National Procurement Commission’s approval to reduce the bid time from 45 days to 15 days.
The deputy minister said this is being carried out since they require the campaign to be carried out urgently.
Meanwhile on Thursday Parliament approved a proposal to offer free visas to nationals of 40 countries.
This visa is to be made available for one year period and will be reviewed in six months, he said.
Prof. Ranasinghe said though it would incur a loss of US$45 million per year to the Treasury they hope to increase arrivals by 10 per cent and earn $317 million.
He noted that the loss in revenue as a result of the 20 per cent drop in arrivals amounted to around $50-55 million.
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