Sri Lanka Tourism will launch the much-awaited two-month global promotional campaign next month with an investment of Rs. 500 million, to position Sri Lanka on the global tourism map which will also help the industry to bounce back quickly from negative sentiments following the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

J. Walter Thompson (JWT) had been chosen as the PR agency to represent Sri Lanka to the global market. JWT also won the Rs. 314 million contract to develop the country’s latest tourism brand and tagline ‘So Sri Lanka’, which was launched at World Travel Mart in London last year.

“We will launch the global promotional campaign in July and it will be up and running for the next two months,” Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga told the Daily FT.

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

The Minister also said that Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) got the Cabinet nod for the Rs. 415 million PR campaign, which he believes will also commence in the near future.

“We have now got approval for all promotional campaigns including global advertising campaign, digital promotional campaign and appointment of a PR agency that the industry had been longing for. We hope to execute these promotions in an aggressive manner,” he added.

Meanwhile SLTPB Chairman Kishu Gomes said that Sri Lanka will participate in a number of exhibitions and road shows which will further help to boost country’s image.

“In addition to the dedicated in-house promotional campaigns Sri Lanka is also participating at 25 calendar exhibitions, 18 road shows and nine consumer engagement events, hence all these will give the impetus that we are looking for to lure more travellers to the country,” he stressed.

Sri Lanka makes fresh push to woo Chinese tourists post Easter Sunday setback