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BTS of tourism relaunch campaign

07 Feb 2021

After about 10 months, Sri Lanka finally opened its borders for international tourism, investment, and other bilateral purposes with international countries on 21 January 2021. The country’s tourism came to a halt after the closure of the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake (BIA) in March, following the local outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. Since October, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Pvt.) Ltd. (AASL) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAA) were preparing to receive passengers that were to arrive for leisure purposes. However, due to the recent “second wave” of the virus, which began on 4 October with the detection of the Minuwangoda cluster, the tourism sector was again on hold. The long-awaited global advertising campaign for Sri Lanka Tourism under the “So Sri Lanka” tagline was launched prior to the opening of airports on all social media by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) on 22 January 2021. Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Wunderman Thompson Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alyna Omar said that two films were created prior to the reopening of Sri Lanka. “Both films have been created using existing footage due to travel and other restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Omar added. According to Omar, the primary contributor of footage was SriLankan Airlines, which had invested strategically in high-quality international standard footage. "This is so important in this era of video-first digital communication,” stated Omar. Additionally, apart from Sri Lanka Tourism’s own archive, other contributors of footage include the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Lovi Ceylon, and Sonali Dharmawardena.   Campaign films   The first film launched by “So Sri Lanka” was titled “Sri Lanka is ready for you”. The purpose behind its message was to state to global audiences that Sri Lanka is ready and open – for travel, investment, new ideas, progress, and innovation. It spoke of a modern Sri Lanka, proud of its ancient heritage, with an abundance of natural beauty, strategically re-emerging to win in a post-pandemic world. Commenting on this video, Omar said: “We were targeting a diverse audience ranging from the wider tourism/hospitality trade both in Sri Lanka and other countries; airlines, investors, governments, and of course international travellers.” The tone of the film was modern and upbeat, and was aimed at portraying Sri Lanka’s ambition, heritage, pride, power, people, places, and personality. “The film is unapologetically optimistic and celebrates the resilient Sri Lankan spirit,” Omar shared. Furthermore, the second film launched by So Sri Lanka is the longer 2.5-minute film which was specifically targeted only at tourists. “It is a purely destination-based film that speaks of our culture, our history, our beauty,  our faiths, our stories, our communities, who we are as people – our way of life, how we think, how we feel, and most importantly, this film showcases our outer beauty while it speaks for the depth and breadth of our unique consciousness and our way of life,” Omar emphasised. The measure taken to create these films is to enhance promotional campaigns which could help tourists to evaluate the tourism product of Sri Lanka. The importance of such videos is that when campaign videos are circulated through social media, people living abroad would be encouraged and persuaded to visit the country as soon as possible. Another reason is that when these videos are circulated, it reminds international travellers that Sri Lanka is a destination that could be visited during this Covid-19 pandemic period due to the safety and precautionary measures taken by the Sri Lankan Government in order to ensure and facilitate the needs and wants of the tourists.   Background of ‘So Sri Lanka’   The tagline was conceived by advertising agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT).  This was selected by a three-member expert committee chaired by Dilmah Founder Merrill J. Fernando, Hemas Group Leisure Sector Head Abbas Esufally, and Leo Burnett Sri Lanka Former Managing Director Ranil de Silva. Previously, the tagline was titled "Wonder of Asia". The "So Sri Lanka" tagline was launched at the World Travel Market (WTM) London 2019, along with the unveiling of Sri Lanka’s brand identity and logo to kick off the destination branding campaign. Former Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Kavan Ratnayaka in 2018 commented that the purpose of this campaign was to focus on authenticity. "People are looking for authentic experiences. They are not looking for clinical, Singapore-style experiences anymore. ‘So Sri Lanka’, from that perspective, works. For example, you can even use it in a bad situation; when the train gets late we say it’s so Sri Lanka," Ratnayaka added.   Tourism update   As of 31 January 2021, a total of 23 flights are currently operating to and from Sri Lanka since the opening of the borders to all international tourists, according to AASL Chairman (Retd.) Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri. Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Chandrasiri said that the flights operating include SriLankan Airlines, Qatar Airways, China Airways, Singapore Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Ukraine International Airlines, Oman Air, Emirates, Lot Polish Airlines, and others. “Several private airlines are requesting to operate flights to Sri Lanka, and we are encouraging them to come and do so,” Chandrasiri added. In this context, Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga said prior to the pandemic, about 80 airlines were operating to and from Sri Lanka. However, it might take a couple of months to get those airlines back on board. As of now, “a total of 35 airlines have expressed their willingness to operate flights”, Ranatunga added. Furthermore, according to Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Acting Marketing Director and Director of Public Relations Madubhani Perera, a total of 1,700 tourist arrivals were recorded during the period from 25 December 2020 to 24 January 2021, along with a group of German travellers.   What's next?   Sri Lanka is also preparing its global tourism campaign which is expected to kick off this year. The long-awaited global advertising campaign for Sri Lanka Tourism was set to be launched in September last year but faced delays due to Covid-19. The campaign has been in the pipeline for five to seven years under two governments and has been desperately awaited by the industry, particularly following the Easter Sunday attacks and more recently, the coronavirus outbreak. In planning this campaign, the SLTDA has analysed tourism data from the past five years and segregated the campaign into three categories: mature markets, Eastern and Middle Eastern markets, and new markets. The “mature markets” category includes all top tourism-generating markets of Sri Lanka such as Germany, the UK, France, India, and China. The campaign is expected to increase arrivals from these countries by 25%. The “Eastern and Middle Eastern markets” category includes countries such as Australia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other countries in the region, while the “new markets” category includes the US, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Spain. The SLTDA will appoint destination representation agencies for the mature and Eastern and Middle Eastern market segments. These agencies will conduct digital tourism marketing activities and public relations (PR) campaigns in the Eastern and Middle Eastern markets, while in the mature markets, in addition to this, they will also conduct above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) marketing campaigns. Tourism marketing for new markets will be conducted by PR agencies that would showcase PR activities to attract tourists from those respective markets.   Conclusion   Tourism in Sri Lanka will increase when our planet bounces back to the normal which existed before the Covid-19 pandemic. Until then, Sri Lanka will continuously fight to keep everything in check, including health and other essential measures as required. In this context, Omar stated that our national character is one that we should embrace if we are to move forward; it is also one to leverage if we want to develop industry and enterprise and it is one to celebrate if we are to develop deeper awareness and clarity. "Our love of family, our love of tradition, our love of conversation, our love of celebration, our love of music, our love of relationships, our love of turning strangers into friends, and our love of storytelling are what make us legendary for our hospitality. This is what makes us ‘So Sri Lanka’!" Omar said in conclusion.


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