2022 Sep 30
Sri Lankans have seen the worst of it over the years with the tourism industry falling apart. The ripples of this decaying industry have made life hard for everyday Sri Lankans. This is how ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ came to life. It’s the latest national campaign initiated by NKAR Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd with a vision to recover tourism in Sri Lanka with aims to shed light on the little paradise Sri Lankans call ‘home’.
The campaign was bought to light on the 20th of September 2022 with its media briefing at Ramada Colombo. The panel included experts from the industry sharing their views on what the campaign has to offer. Following the launch, the influencers for the campaign: Stephi Wimalasinghe and Madushan Neranjan were introduced and spoke about how they hope to contribute to the campaign. The initiative aims to set a goal of reaching four to five million expatriates from all over the world in a bid to help Sri Lanka out of its precarious situation and is set to run for the next four months.
The Sinking Ship of Tourists
Many experts have already stated that rejuvenating the tourism and hospitality industry is key to resolving the predicament Sri Lanka is in. This measure is further backed by the 2021 Census and Statistics Department report, which stated that 58.3 per cent of Sri Lanka’s GDP is supplied by the tourism industry. However, even this remedy isn’t foolproof, as there are many struggles when implementing such a scheme. The most critical is the lack of a cohesive national strategy for tourist attractions. While authorities and other stakeholders have in the past nodded in the direction of formulating such a plan following the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of one is yet to be seen. Thus, we are to observe a gap between the international tourist market and Sri Lanka.
What is ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ about?
It is at this point that ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ steps in, to bridge the gap between foreign tourists and Sri Lanka, by creating a national campaign to recover tourism through global coverage with several partnerships with organisations like the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the Sri Lankan Association of Inbound Tour Operations (SLAITO) and the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) forged to carry on the project.
They plan on creating a social media trend called ‘Save the Sri Lankan Smile’ which will include a series of videos and social media posts circulated to raise awareness of Sri Lanka’s beauty and warm hospitality. This extensive campaign also includes a photography contest with 3 categories: professional, mobile and expatriate photography, all of which can include still photographs or videos ranging from 10 to 20 seconds.
By distinguishing white-label videos as the key media content to circulate, this plan also encourages everyday Sri Lankans to be a part of a national strategy. Sri Lankans can create their very own content about their everyday lives and share it under this campaign. Video generation of this nature will create more authentic and relatable content, as people themselves are initiating it.
How can you be a part of the campaign?
It’s as easy as it sounds, simply capture an image or a short video and post it with #savethesrilankansmile on social media. Even if one doesn’t create content themselves, the likelihood of a video getting shared by someone else is very much existent. With all these reasons and more, this campaign is set to make Sri Lanka come back to glory and bring back the Sri Lankan Smile!
