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Sri Lanka has seen the highest tourist arrivals growth post-COVID in September with 13,547, propelling the cumulative figure to over 37,000.
Tourist arrivals in September recorded a sharp increase of 169% from August, largely influenced by the relaxed travel restrictions, aggressive vaccination programs around the world and growing consumer confidence.
Arrivals in the first nine months were 37,924 – a major development since the reopening of borders on 21 January, but down by 92.5% from corresponding period of last year.
In September, the largest source markets were India (8,528), Pakistan (1,225) and Germany (466), followed by the United Kingdom (309) and Russia (304), the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.
The Health Ministry said over 12 million Sri Lankan citizens have received both doses of their vaccine against COVID-19 as of Wednesday.
In a bid to further relax the entry rules and make Sri Lanka more attractive to international travellers, the Government decided to resume the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for fully-vaccinated international travellers with immediate effect.
The Government last week announced eased entry rules by exempting on-arrival PCR for fully vaccinated travellers who receive a negative result on a PCR conducted within 72 hours of departure from 1 October. However, those not vaccinated will be required to undergo a 14-day hotel or home quarantine.
India was the largest source of tourist visits to Sri Lanka with 63% of the total traffic received in September. Following the lifting of the ban, the national carrier SriLankan Airlines too resumed passenger flights to India and extended its innovative ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ air ticket offer.
The growth in arrivals from countries in the Americas, and Western, Central and Eastern Europe, suggests a slight revitalisation of leisure tourism. Industry sources linked it to factors such as the gradual improvement of traveller confidence, relaxed travel restrictions, COVID-19 vaccine programs, and the North American and Western Europe summer holiday period.
During January to September, India became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 27%, beating Kazakhstan›s rank by just 1% since the reopening of borders in January. Ukraine accounted for 8%, Germany 7%, whilst UK and China accounted for 6% each.
Europe became the largest source region, up by 15% to 17,987 travellers of the total traffic received in the first nine months, whilst Asia Pacific and the Americas accounted for 16,191 and 3,108 tourists respectively. However, in September, Asia and the Pacific became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 78.9% of the total traffic received, whilst Europe accounted for 17.3% and Americas 3.2%.
Last month, the Health Ministry also permitted tourist activities for fully vaccinated tourists as well as for travellers who have completed the 14-day quarantine within the bio-bubble.
For the last 18 months, Sri Lanka had observed strict quarantine measures for travellers and a series of lockdowns to control the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures had been extremely hard-hitting for all tourism industry stakeholders, including nearly three million dependents due to the twin crises of the Easter Sunday Attacks and COVID-19.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was of the view that the tourism industry must gradually be opened up with lesser restrictions for international travellers along with the aggressive vaccination drive, as it was a key foreign exchange earning sector for the economy.
Sri Lanka lost around $ 10 billion in foreign exchange earnings, which generate $ 4.5 billion annually, due to the pandemic since last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has raged from March 2020 onwards and the latest drop in arrivals reinforce the continuous struggles of the tourism industry.
