$ 2.4 m JICA-funded Sri Lanka tourism promotion campaign kicks off in Japan
A 15-month long US$ 2.4 million worth Sri Lankan tourism promotion campaign funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was kicked off in Tokyo last week.
The Ministry of Economic Development, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Tokyo and the Nihon Keizai Advertising Company (ADEX) are the parties involved in the exercise. The launch was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Tokyo.
The 15-month long tourism campaign under JICA funding worth $ 2.4 million will be executed by the ADEX advertising agency in Tokyo, under the close guidance of the Embassy of Sri Lanka. The campaign will cover a range of areas, which include a planned advertising campaign targeting consumers, event promotions, and promotional activities for travel agents and proposal-based marketing and promotional activities.
At the kick-off launch, Ambassador Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda cited that Sri Lanka was now one of the safest destinations in the world following the end of terrorism in 2009.
The dawn of peace has paved the way for many travellers to visit Sri Lanka and Japanese travellers have shown an impressive increase of 43% in 2011 as compared to 2010, currently comprising the highest arrivals from the East Asian region, he noted.
The Ambassador also pointed out that the visit of the Japan Association for Travel Agents (JATA) President Akira Kanai and the Executive Committee to Sri Lanka in November this year was a major landmark of Japanese visitor promotions, as the JATA Executive Committee is considered the most influential body of Japanese outbound travel.
The visit paved the way for JATA members to familiarise themselves with Sri Lankan tourist products and to send a positive message to the travel trade in Japan on Sri Lanka as a lucrative travel destination.
The Ambassador also emphasiszed that the timely launch of this tourism campaign would coincide with the commemoration of 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations, inviting more Japanese travellers to Sri Lanka.
