Global tourism promotional campaign delayed yet again

Sri Lanka Tourism’s five-year integrated global tourism promotional campaign, which has been in the pipeline for around five to seven years under two administrations and which was finally scheduled to be launched by the third quarter of 2022, will likely be delayed once again due to the current foreign exchange crisis in the country, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ministry of Tourism Secretary S. Hettiarachchi stated that over 90% of the preparation for the launch of this integrated five-year global promotional campaign had been completed and that the initial plan was to finish preparations by April 2022. 

However, he claimed that due to the prevailing economic conditions it had been decided to slow down the preparation process of the promotional campaign.

“Before the deterioration of the country’s economic conditions, former Minister of Finance Basil Rajapksa promised the Ministry of Tourism to provide the funding required for this promotional campaign by the second quarter of 2022. However, since then, the country’s economy took a turn for the worse, making it no longer justifiable to spend the significant foreign exchange investment required for this tourism promotional campaign,” Hettiarachchi explained.

However, he stated that in the interim period, Sri Lanka Tourism would continue to implement its low-cost promotional activities incurring expenditure denominated in Sri Lankan Rupees, such as Sri Lanka Tourism’s travel influencer facilitation programme (also known as the Visiting Blogger Programme) and its social media promotion.

According to Hettiarachchi, Sri Lanka Tourism will slowly continue with the preparation process of the integrated five-year global promotional campaign in the hope of launching it by the Christmas season. However, he admitted that such a short delay would depend largely on the political and economic stability of the country.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Director General Dhammika Wijesinghe also admitted that it was unlikely that Sri Lanka Tourism’s much-awaited integrated global tourism promotional campaign would be launched by the third quarter of 2022 as previously anticipated.    

She further stated that the original Cabinet-approved budget for the global tourism promotional campaign was around $ 119 million. However, this was later trimmed down to around $ 56 million. 

Commenting on the current stage of the development of the global tourism promotional campaign, she stated: “There were 20 tenders for the 20 components of the tourism promotional campaign. Almost all of the tenders have been opened, evaluated, and handed over to the Cabinet-appointed procurement committee consisting of five secretaries of ministries.”   

Previously, it was anticipated that once the Cabinet-appointed procurement committee approved the tenders, the promotional campaign would be launched during the third quarter of 2022, following the final approval by the Cabinet of Ministers. However, she admitted that it was highly unlikely that the Cabinet would grant approval for such a launch date as previously expected due to the prevailing forex shortage in the country. 

This integrated five-year global promotional campaign was expected to target eight tier one (primary) source markets and six tier two (emerging) markets in order to achieve the Government’s objective of bringing in six million tourists by 2025.