Sri Lanka tourism campaign worth Rs. 1 billion is being fast-tracked as arrivals drop amid West Asia war concerns and visa reforms.
Sri Lanka tourism authorities are preparing to fast-track a Rs. 1 billion promotional campaign after recent arrivals declined due to the war in West Asia.
Deputy Tourism Minister Prof. Ruwan Ranasinghe told the Sunday Times Business that a Rs. 1 billion tender is expected to be finalised within the next two weeks, following the ongoing evaluation process for the Australian market.
The campaign is expected to include digital marketing and public relations initiatives aimed at reviving arrivals.
Prof. Ranasinghe said Sri Lanka is also preparing to launch similar promotional campaigns in several other key tourism markets.
These include India, China, Spain, the United Kingdom, and several European countries.
However, for these markets, authorities are still awaiting approval from the National Procurement Commission to reduce the bidding period from 45 days to 15 days.
The Deputy Minister said the decision was taken because there is an urgent need to implement the campaign and respond quickly to the slowdown in arrivals.
Meanwhile, Parliament on Thursday approved a proposal to grant free visas to nationals of 40 countries.
According to Prof. Ranasinghe, the free visa programme will be implemented for one year and reviewed after six months.
He noted that the initiative could result in an annual loss of US$45 million to the Treasury.
However, the government expects the scheme to increase tourist arrivals by 10 percent and generate an estimated US$317 million in revenue.
Prof. Ranasinghe further said the 20 percent drop in tourist arrivals has already caused an estimated revenue loss of around US$50 million to US$55 million.
