Many countries are reopening their borders to international travelers by lifting the travel restrictions, after more than a year of lockdowns due to COVID-19. Vaccines have given cause of optimism for travelling. Knowing the importance of tourism driven sustainable economic development, Sri Lanka Tourism has relaxed the travel restrictions for International Tourists from 1st of October 2021.
In relations to the post-COVID related destination promotions, Sri Lanka Tourism’s International Media & Influencer Facilitation Program (VJP &VBP) which is under the PR Division, already started to collaborate with some of the most talented international travel influencers and travel journalists. With these influencer promotions, Sri Lanka Tourism expects focus on :
- Experiencing Travel Relaxation by Sri Lanka Tourism (entering to Sri Lanka) and our Great Accommodation sector with Ayurveda / Wild / Nature / Beach Relaxation
- How welcoming Sri Lankan’s are and how normal the life with safe and secure measurements setup by the government
- Reasons to consider lesser known fresh regions such as Northern Sri Lanka, Sabargamuwa, Central highlands for next holiday
In the month of October, ten (10) high profile journalists and travel influencers were invited to Sri Lanka from Norway, India and Philippines. The media & travel influencer team has an active audience covering UK, Norway, Germany, USA, UAE, Australia, Canada, Philippines, India. Combine reach of this promotion expect to be over 5 million (viewers & readers in both online /offline) globally and the advertising value equal to be over 23 million Sri Lanka
Youtube based social media kicked started from October (from 15th October to 6th November) to highlight and pinpoint Sri Lanka’s lesser known tourism experience in order to lure the enthusiastic travelers to have the vacation of their choice. The Norwegian based influencers (Martin Solhaugen : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGKwnJYiAAg&t=5s /Ave : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKgZfxeLsw) have been further commissioned by the famous DW Germany TV channel (Deutsche Welle) to produce a travel vlog about Sri Lanka for their Travel YouTube channel. DW is a German public state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 30 languages. DW’s satellite television service consists of channels in English, German, Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, Bengali, and Arabic. Overall, this promotion will be covering Matale , Kegalle , Kandy , Hatton, Mahiyahnganaya and Southern Coastal line by covering various tourism products ‘’Hel Vedakam’’, adventure travel, luxury travel , community based tourism, nature and eco-tourism, Indigenous Vedda Community, and promoting less known Sri Lanka .
The Indian media and influencer delegation was consist with renowned travel bloggers, youtubers and travel journalists commissioned by National Geographic and Forbes- India. Among the invited travel influencers , Indian bloggers Veidehi Gite (https://www.krazybutterfly.com/veidehi-gite/), Nivedith Gajapathy, Meenakshi (www.polkajunction.com), Siddhartha Joshi, Soumya Gayatri, and Ami Bhat (www.thrillingtravel.in), Khursheed Dinsohw (https://www.forbesindia.com/article/forbes-lifes/sips-from-sri-lanka-the-making-of-ceylonese-tea/57325/1) were also included to promote tourism in Sri Lanka. This will be a 11 days’ tour which will give the Indian journalists & bloggers a unique experience of Sri Lanka’s popular and upcoming tourist attractions, culture and ancient heritage. The FAM will also host a Colombo city tour, and in addition will visit major cities covering Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Dambulla,Kandy , Nuwaraeliya and Negombo covering famous attractions such as Sigiriya , Minneriya national park , Dambulla cave temple , Sigiriya , Namal Uyana, Nagadeepa, Jaffna Dutch Fort, Point Pedro and other destinations.
A unique content plan itinerary designed with activity and adventure has been drafted out for all travel bloggers and media groups by Sri Lanaka Tourism’s International Media Facilitation Team, where they will witness what is ‘’So Sri Lanka’’ , our rich diversity and compactness. SLTPB hopes that by organizing these media press tours, the travelers will gain an extensive knowledge about the multiple travel opportunities the country has to offer, and mark Sri Lanka as the number one destination for those who want to seek experience and adventure during the upcoming seasons.
