SLTPB-JWT agreement on global PR and advertising to be signed soon

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) yesterday confirmed that the draft agreement with J.Walter Thompson (JWT) had been finalised and would be signed soon to kick off the much-delayed PR and advertising campaigns.

“The draft agreement for the critical promotion campaigns has now been finalised and is being vetted by relevant authorities. The agreement will be signed within the next couple of days,” SLTPB Chairman Kishu Gomes told Daily FT.

The two campaigns worth nearly Rs.1 billion will look to position Sri Lanka on the global tourism map and help the industry bounce back from negative sentiments following the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

JWT won the Rs.500 millionworth six-month-long global promotional campaign as well as the Rs.415 million two-month long PR campaign to represent Sri Lanka in the global market.

The target markets for the global promotional campaign include Sri Lanka’s biggest tourism source markets such as India, China and the UK, Germany and France.

Although Sri Lanka Tourism authorities have been bragging about commencing the long-delayed promotional campaign by mid-July, industry experts are sceptical about their timelines as they have failed to execute plans accordingly. (CdeS)