Tourism to generate Rs. 550 m in 2008

Shirajiv Sirimane

Sri Lanka hopes to generate Rs. 550 million from the Tourism industry this year. This is an increase of over Rs. 100 million over the previous year.

Director General Sri Lanka Tourism, Dileep Mudadeniya said they are expecting over 600,000 arrivals and January has already witnessed an increase.

The year 2007 saw arrivals of around 500, 000 tourists and a revenue generation in the excess of Rs. 400 million.

Presenting the marketing strategy and activity plan for 2008 to 2010 he said that since the Authority was set up and the private sector getting involved they have been receiving many new ideas. "This argurs well for the industry," he said.

"It was evident that the current way of doing business is no longer feasible to meet the challenges facing the tourism sector or to seize emerging opportunities. A new format for collaboration has been adopted to enable Sri Lanka to increase its market share and raise its domestic and international profile," he said.

The plan will mainly focus on four key markets, India, UK, Russia and the Middle East. They are also looking at new destinations such as Thailand and Pakistan. In a bid to speed up the marketing plan Phoenix has been appointed as the official agency after a Government tender procedure.

There are over two million Sri Lankan expatriates and promotions would be extended to them as well.

Sri Lanka for the first time will also advertise at the Maldives airport and work closely with airlines.

A host of promotional activities such as Galle Literary festival, SriLankan Golf tournament, Hikkaduwa Carnival in June and several media tours will be undertaken. Seeing (Cultural holidays, Eco Holidays and Wildlife) Being (Spa, Ayurvedha, Spiritual Eco and Health Tourism) and Doing (Adventure, Sports and Cruise) would be also the key positionings for the marketing strategy and activity plan.

Chairman Sri Lankan Tourism, Renton De Alwis said since the Authority formed 18 months ago tourism is heading for even better times. "We have identified that there have been some markets that have not performed well.

The reason for this is that these countries have not been administrated properly. However with the private sector working hand in hand this scenario will not be repeated," he said.

Sri Lanka Tourism will also be implementing a mechanism to set in place a transparent process to measure performance and implementational effectiveness of their team with the intent of creating a results driven performance recognition approach.