• Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Germany, UK and China top 5 markets in 1Q 

By Charumini de Silva

Amidst the continuing COVID-19 pandemic Sri Lanka saw 4,581 tourists in March increasing the arrivals in the first quarter to 9,629.

March arrivals were higher in comparison to 3,366 in February and 1,682 in January after the country’s borders were opened on 21 January to resume international tourism.

In March the largest source markets were Kazakhstan (1,514), followed by Germany (502), and the UK (316), Ukraine (287) and China (223) and Russia (197).

Kazakhstan also led arrivals in the first quarter with 2,746 thanks to the commencement of regular flights by its national carrier. Ukraine with 2,592 arrivals was the second biggest market. Traditional markets Germany was number three with 766 arrivals and UK fourth with 398 arrivals. China was ranked 5th with 367 arrivals and high potential Russia was sixth with 336 arrivals.

In the first quarter of 2020 or pre-COVID, Sri Lanka received 507,704 tourists. In March 2020 there were 71,370 tourists with the arrivals decreasing as a result of the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic globally. January and February last year saw over 200,000 tourists arriving per month.

Tourism industry leaders are hopeful of higher arrivals from May or June onwards with tourist-friendly health and safety guidelines in place. 

An early finalisation of the travel bubble with India is also being sought as a key measure to boost tourist arrivals. There were 183 tourists from India in March whilst in the first quarter the number was 279.

More time out for tourism