Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) plans to appoint PR agencies and its own marketing officers in key source markets, a change from its earlier move of having tourism offices in the UK, Germany and France which have since closed.
The first stage of this plan, SLTPB chairman Udaya Nanayakkara told TTG Asia, is to appoint representatives with experience in tourism marketing in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in India; Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China; and London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo and Melbourne.
Galle
The agencies will handle all areas of destination marketing and coordinate with the SLTPB officer in those markets, while decisions on ad placements will be made in Colombo.
Nanayakkara said all approvals are in place with the terms of reference to be finalised shortly by a ministerial committee, after which it will accept global tenders from creative, PR and advertising agencies. He hopes to increase the earlier estimated budget of U$3 million to US$6 million.
Following multiple postponements, the new US$1.3 million digital campaign is now scheduled for a December launch in the UK, Germany and France, followed by the global destination marketing campaign in May 2018.
