By The Sunday Morning Business Desk
With the reopening of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) likely to be further delayed due to the emergence of a second Covid-19 wave, Sri Lanka Tourism is planning a campaign to promote local destinations to domestic tourists.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told The Sunday Morning Business recently that the SLTDA is in the process of selecting a public relations (PR) firm to undertake the promotional campaign.
“Because of Covid-19, we have decided to go for a local campaign. We put out a tender for a PR agency and we are in the final stages of selecting one,” Fernando stated.
Speaking further, she added that tourism authorities together with the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services have prepared a detailed health protocol for local travellers, and the PR firm would play a vital role in educating the general public to follow this protocol.
The local tourism campaign also comes amidst the absence of the global tourism campaign. The airport closure necessitated further delays to the already long-delayed global tourism campaign of Sri Lanka. After years of delays under consecutive governments, the campaign which was scheduled to be launched in January 2021 is now expected to be delayed further by several months.
Following the closure of the airport in March for international travellers and the subsequent islandwide lockdown after the local outbreak of the virus, tourism businesses were facing severe financial issues as neither international nor local travellers could travel within the country.
However, after the lifting of the seven-week long islandwide lockdown, local tourism began to pick up, giving hope to tourism businesses. By end-September, according to The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte, occupancy rates of most of the hotels were around 20%.
Nevertheless, after the recent “second wave” of the virus, which began on 4 October with the detection of the Minuwangoda cluster and the subsequent curfews, local tourism too has been largely paralysed, The Sunday Morning Business learns.
Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is among the top three foreign exchange-earning sources of the country. Even before the closure of the airport, Sri Lanka was struggling to attract tourists, mainly due to stringent travel restrictions imposed in China in the early weeks of this year to mitigate the spread of the virus. China is among the top five tourism-generating markets of Sri Lanka.
Tourism arrivals had been gradually recovering after the Easter attacks and the reported arrivals into the country stood at 1.9 million in 2019, compared to 2.3 million in 2018. This year, January arrivals were 228,434, a year-on-year drop of 6.5%, while February arrivals were 207,507, a year-on-year drop of 17.7%. March arrivals dropped to 71,370 compared to the 244,328 arrivals during the same period last year.
“Because of Covid-19, we have decided to go for a local campaign. We put out a tender for a PR agency and we are in the final stages of selecting one,” Fernando stated.
Speaking further, she added that tourism authorities together with the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services have prepared a detailed health protocol for local travellers, and the PR firm would play a vital role in educating the general public to follow this protocol.
The local tourism campaign also comes amidst the absence of the global tourism campaign. The airport closure necessitated further delays to the already long-delayed global tourism campaign of Sri Lanka. After years of delays under consecutive governments, the campaign which was scheduled to be launched in January 2021 is now expected to be delayed further by several months.
Following the closure of the airport in March for international travellers and the subsequent islandwide lockdown after the local outbreak of the virus, tourism businesses were facing severe financial issues as neither international nor local travellers could travel within the country.
However, after the lifting of the seven-week long islandwide lockdown, local tourism began to pick up, giving hope to tourism businesses. By end-September, according to The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte, occupancy rates of most of the hotels were around 20%.
Nevertheless, after the recent “second wave” of the virus, which began on 4 October with the detection of the Minuwangoda cluster and the subsequent curfews, local tourism too has been largely paralysed, The Sunday Morning Business learns.
Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is among the top three foreign exchange-earning sources of the country. Even before the closure of the airport, Sri Lanka was struggling to attract tourists, mainly due to stringent travel restrictions imposed in China in the early weeks of this year to mitigate the spread of the virus. China is among the top five tourism-generating markets of Sri Lanka.
Tourism arrivals had been gradually recovering after the Easter attacks and the reported arrivals into the country stood at 1.9 million in 2019, compared to 2.3 million in 2018. This year, January arrivals were 228,434, a year-on-year drop of 6.5%, while February arrivals were 207,507, a year-on-year drop of 17.7%. March arrivals dropped to 71,370 compared to the 244,328 arrivals during the same period last year.