Digital blitz to boost SL tourism

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The long-awaited digital campaign for tourism got Cabinet nod this week with approval to awarding contracts for promotional work in three different countries. 

The Government this week approved awarding the contract for the digital promotional campaign to position Sri Lanka as a preferred destination in United Kingdom, Germany and France. 

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga, presenting a paper to Cabinet, said that as per Cabinet-appointed procurement committee recommen-dation,approval has been obtained to award the contract to run the promotional campaign in the United Kingdom to Digital Spring Ltd. for a cost of $ 703,480. The contract to run the promotional program in Germany has been awarded to Media Consulta International Holdings AG for a total cost of $697.770.92, while the campaign is to be carried out in France by Interface Tourism at a cost of $ 706,460. 

After the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) called for tenders to carry out a digital advertising campaign in five countries, India China, United Kingdom, Germany and France, recommendations were given by the Technical Evaluation Committee and the CAPC to award the country-specific tenders to five different companies.  According to selection, the tender for the Indianmarket was recommended to be awarded to Havas Media India Ltd. at a cost of $697,333.16, and China to Hylink Digital Solution Co. Ltd. at a price of $ 684,100. However, two appeals have been made by Crayons Communications regarding the selection of the CAPC for the Indian market, and Iconic China has raised objections to the selection made under the Chinese segment. The tender appeal board is yet to determine the final outcome of the tenders for the promotional campaign tender for both India and China.