Sri Lanka waiting for tourists to come back
According to industry insiders, recent protests have put a dent on the country’s image. To counter this, a marketing campaign has been launched to attract European tourists. Currently, some 2,000 visitors arrive in Sri Lanka every day.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – The pictures of street protests crushed by force are bad publicity for Sri Lanka and have undermined the revival of its tourism sector, hard hit by a deep economic crisis, this according to industry stakeholders.
The sector has not yet returned to its pre-2019 level despite various attempts to cushion visitors from the effects of the economic crisis.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance (SLTA) launched a marketing campaign to encourage winter bookings and increase the country's visibility through various advertising mechanisms, sources told AsiaNews.
Yet, even though most travel advisories have been lifted, tourists in key markets such as Europe and the United States believe that the country "is not yet ready” for them.
“The campaign is mainly digital, covering the entire spectrum of the travel purchase decision”; this takes into account potential travellers to Sri Lanka from primary target countries and regions, like the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain as well as Gulf states.
The SLTA has also launched several campaigns on social media to market Sri Lanka as an ideal safe tourism destination, focusing on varying elements catering to diverse worldwide audiences, such as tea, hiking, surfing, wildlife, cuisine, culture, and history, rather than the “beach tourism” cliché.
According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), arrivals surged in July by almost 2,000 per cent compared to the previous year, with 47,293 visitors. In June, the number was 32,856.
Europeans accounted for 47 per cent of arrivals, while those from the Asia-Pacific region were 37.7 per cent.
As for individual countries, travellers from India accounted for 20.7 per cent of total traffic, followed by the United Kingdom (10.3 per cent), Australia (7.6 per cent), Germany (7.5 per cent) and Canada (7 per cent).
“We have US$ 900 million coming from the tourism sector (so far this year),” said Tourism Minister Harin Fernando, who recently visited Ahmedabad, India, to promote his country.
Now we “are hoping that by the end of the year, we might reach about US$ 2 billion” as well as “10 lakh (one million) tourists and the next year with 15-20 lakh tourists (1.5-2 million).”
“Things have again started to pick up,” said a senior Tourism Ministry official, and “at present, the country has been receiving about 2,000 tourists per day”, as against the peak of 7,000 per day. “Tourism is the main source of income for the country, which is now safe to travel.”
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02/10/2020 12:42
