Tourism industry welcomes moves for unified branding

By Cheranka Mendis

The Government’s plan to formulate a combined publicity programme to build a unified brand for Sri Lanka tourism has been well received by industry stakeholders who claim that the plan is well timed and a necessary one.

The project is to be known as Tourism Promotion Programme (TPP).

Speaking to Daily FT Chairman of Tourist Hotels Association Anura Lokuhetty stated that the industry was happy with the Cabinet paper giving approval to formulate a combined programme for promotion of tourism.

“The country needs destination marketing. All efforts must be made to come up with a plan to market the destination much effectively than at present,” Lokuhetty said.

He asserted that with Sri Lanka now in the market as a hotspot tourism destination, competition levels must be increased and the country should go into a much more aggressive planning.

“Sri Lanka has to compete with countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore which gets an approximate 24 million, 15 million and 12 million tourists per year respectively.

Even countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are said to have recorded arrivals of five million or higher.” The secret is the aggressive marketing strategies planned and implemented by these countries, Lokuhetty noted.

“It has also been observed that their key target countries are the same as our prime markets. This includes countries such as UK, Germany, India and France. In order to satisfactorily compete in the international market, a good destination promotion plan must be implemented.”

The move has the support of all parties involved in the tourism industry, he said.

                He also claimed that the Chairman as well as the Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism had shown much interest in the project and Sri Lanka Tourism together with SriLankan airlines and Sri Lanka Tourist Hotels Association will put forward suggestions to be incorporated in the combined publicity drive. The suggestions will be put together after discussions with other stakeholders in the industry.

Meanwhile President of Colombo City Hotels Association M. Shanthikumar stated that the concern of the industry over the past few months was over consumer promotion. “Is the consumer promotion happening and if so where? This was our main concern,” Shanthikumar said. “In truth, there is no consumer promotion happening in tourism anymore. There used to be lots on a regular basis such as participation in overseas trade fairs and road trips among others. As such the move by the government to come up with a combined effort is a welcome sign for the industry.” He surmised that the implantation will happen soon, maybe within a month or two now that cabinet approval has been received. “Whoever does it, I hope they would keep consumer promotion in mind,” he stressed.

Chairman of PATA Hiran Cooray also speaking to Daily FT agreed that the country needed a lot of planning. “The fact that more authorities, associations and organisations are getting involved will make it all the more effective as well as better.” Cooray asserted that it was important to create an image in the traveller’s mind. “There has to be image building. Also we must focus on the tourism product itself; we must project how easy it is to get around in the island, the infrastructural development taking place, and market this whole thing to the travellers and tourists.”

The end result from a successful combined country promotion will not stop at the tourism industry stakeholder but will reach across a cross-section of people and industries, he claimed.

It has been mentioned that the approval of Cabinet has been given to select promotional organisations representing all agencies to launch the TPP. The Cabinet decision authorises the Economic Development Ministry to enter into an incorporated agreement with all relevant public and private sector organisations to put into operation the TPP and incur the required expenditure in a collective manner.