03-days workshop organised by Northern Tourism Bureau in collaboration with EFECS Project and Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing
26th, 27th and 28th July 2021 from 9am – 4pm in Jaffna District Secretariat IT Division
Digitalisation has transformed the traditional roles of tourism producers and consumers, with new roles, relationships, business models, and competencies are emerging. These shifts have created new opportunities, as well as challenges, for tourism SMEs as they strive to meet consumer demands and reach new markets. Understanding this requirement, Northern Province Tourism Stakeholders in the private sector was given number of capacity building workshops and they have shown a considerable improvement during the post pandemic era in their digital presence. The private sector stakeholders those who have obtained the knowledge from the programmes, used to be more engaged with the Social Media and Websites for their business development purposes.
With the objective of integrating the digital pursuits within the northern province for a better promotion of tourism and investments in the post pandemic rejuvenation by improving the capacities of existing ICT officers in the Government Institutions in Northern Province, Northern Province Tourism Bureau in collaboration with EFECS Project and Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing conducted a 03days workshop for the officers engaged with ICT for the government officials in the Northern Province. Northern Province Tourism Bureau, Northern Province Department of Cooperatives, ICT Divisions of 05 District Secretariats and other selected tourism related line institutions in Northern Province were participated this programme. The programme was held on 26th, 27th and 28th July 2021 from 9am – 4pm at the ICT Unit of District Secretariat, Jaffna.
Northern Province Tourism Bureau in collaboration with EFECS Project launched “The Real North” initiative in September 2020 with the intention of boosting tourism and investments to Northern Province under the guidance of Hon. Governor. A line of activities carried out in terms of Training, Digital Promotions as well as content creations to promote the province among global and local travellers and investors. www.realnorth.lk was launched in February 2021 to create a common platform for all tourism stakeholders in Northern Province to grow together in the post pandemic rejuvenation. Parallelly, all District Secretariats, Cooperative Departments and other related institutions also conducting various digital and social media activities in Northern Province in terms of promoting themselves through their individual programs.
“It is very happy to see the engagement of Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing towards the capacity building of Sri Lankan Community as they have a pool of professionals in the field of Digital Marketing from various parts of the country” said Mr. Mascarenhas, Chairman Northern Province Tourism Bureau making the welcome speech on the inaugural day.
The programme was conducted by renowned digital marketer Mr. Sharanyan Sharma who is an award-Winning Entrepreneur, Digital Marketing Trainer, Ecommerce Consultant – FORBES 2000 & Fortune 500 Listed Companies representing Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.
This programme was enabled to improve the knowledge on Website and social media (FB & IG) for a better promotion of Tourism and Investment in Northern Province.
Group engages in the practical session during the programme…
The importance on having updated contents regularly based on the activities happening within the district, institutional network was highlighted by the trainer.
Participants obtained a better knowledge on practical aspects of uploading contents and social media promotions. Ultimately the participants obtained a detailed knowledge on integrating Digital Activities within Northern Province using shared contents and regular updates.
The three-day workshop included theoretical Sessions on Website Development and social media, Practical Sessions on Uploading Contents and Conducting Digital Promotions and Group Sessions on preparing live websites and social media campaigns. The programme provided the knowledge on Monitoring and Evaluation of Digital activities to generate better ROIs and prepare annual digital marketing budgets for institutions.
Official from Northern Province Tourism Bureau and Department of Cooperative Development presenting the websites created by them to the audience.
At the final session, the team prepared a website as well as the related social media sites using the knowledge provided by the trainer during this programme.
Official from District Secretariats presenting the website created by the group at the final session.
Teams presenting their websites and social media platforms….
A panel of judges including Mr. Stanley Mascarenhas, Chairman, NPTB, Mrs. Kamalawathie, Assistant Director, District Secretariat Jaffna, Mr. Yoga, Management Assistant, Northern Province Tourism Bureau and Ms. Harshi Abeynayake, Value Chain Officer EFECS Project evaluated the final presentations.
“I must take this opportunity to thank most of you who engaged with the EFECS Pilot Programme conducted in Northern Province from November 2019 as we are winding up the pilot phase on 30th September 2021. I’m extremely happy that there are lots of institutions in the province are ready to sustain the best practices delivered by this pilot programme. Today programme is one of the best evidence for your future engagement of the development and promotion of Northern Tourism” said Ms. Harshi Abeynayake, Value Chain Officer (Tourism) of the EFECS Project delivering the vote of thanks.
Participants facing for a group photo at the final session…