LNP – Sri Lanka Tourism‘s International Travel Blogger & Journalist Program to support local SME’s
The “Visiting Travel Blogger and Journalist Programme” is an annual project which Sri Lanka Tourism hosts in order to diversify and spread the visitation of foreign travelers visiting the country and also generate income for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Sri Lanka. Over time, the consistent pattern of international travelers has been limited to areas like Sigiriya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and Yala. However, through the visiting blogger and journalist programs, interest has been created to popularize the lesser known attractions such as the Jaffna Peninsula, Pidurangala, Wilpattu, Riverstone-Matale, Seelogama – Belihuloya, Bandarawela, Monaragala, Maligathenna-Gampaha, Ridi Viharaya- Kurunegala, Diyaluma Falls, Kondagala-Kandy and Tangalle in Sri Lanka. Thus, more experience driven opportunities and diversity will be created and added to a visitor’s expedition in Sri Lanka.
“So Sri Lanka”, the theme that was used to provide travelers a lasting taste of the authentic Sri Lankan life; from authentic local food, nature, rich cultural values and lifestyle. Most travelers are now looking for unique experience-based options which Sri Lanka is able to provide, with the support of the rapidly increasing micro, small and medium businesses.
International Travel Journalists and Travel Bloggers were identified based on their engaging content creation skills for travel blogs, popular social media platforms (such as YouTube, Instagram Facebook), overall influence been made within their global virtual audience to highlight unexplored places on the map which needed attention to develop the local and regional economy.
The Modern Traveler is seeking undiscovered wildlife reserves, beaches, waterfalls and hiking trails. On the way to these attractions, they would ideally stop at a small eatery to enjoy a cup of tea, drink king coconut from a road side vendor or simply to indulge in an authentic culinary experience at a Sri Lankan household.
The captured content over these journeys were shared and published on popular travel blogs, online & print publications and social media platforms which reached the masses of people from different demographics of travelers around the world. The prominence is making pronounced strides on the distribution of the arrival of travelers and easing the traffic to well-known attractions and ensuring all parts of the country is able to gain intrinsically, financially and non-financially from tourism