Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
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Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka crossed the 650,000 mark with 25,024 travellers arriving in the country during the first 11 days of the month.
As per provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) yesterday, a total of 653,041 visitors arrived so far.
During the first 11 days of December Russia topped the tourist inflow reflecting 21% or 5,200, followed by India with 4,423, UK with 2,295 Australia with 1,688, and Germany with 1,116. In addition, travellers from US, Canada, Maldives, France, and Israel were welcomed in Sri Lanka. Regardless of the multiple challenges, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry looks to be in high season, as they ramp up efforts to make the best during this winter season and boost foreign exchange inflows to overcome the economic woes.
“This reflects the resilience of the tourism industry of Sri Lanka. I am glad we were able to make a positive impact during a short timeline. The arrival figures and the foreign exchange earnings reflect the amazing responses we as a country have received so far,” Tourism Minister Harin Fernando told the Daily FT.
Industry experts say the off to a promising start in December with the average daily arrivals exceeding 2,275 as opposed to 1,992 in November, marking it the highest since April.
The arrival of the luxury cruise liner, Azamara Quest, the resumption of many new international airlines and charter flights as well as the global promotions at the ITM Paris, Indian and WTM were the key reasons for the favourable pick-up arrival figures.
Although the industry originally set a higher target for arrivals this year at one million, Minister Fernando opined that it will be around 750,000 though expressing confidence in achieving the target income of $ 1.7 billion by end of 2022.
India remains strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with a cumulative number of arrivals at 110,077, followed by the UK with 79,603, Russia with 76,509, Germany with 51,674, France with 33,481, Australia with 27,454, Canada with 25,166, US 19,649, Maldives 16,221 and Poland 14,775.
“Things are turning out to be good. Over the last three months, tourism has picked up in Sri Lanka. The vast expertise of hoteliers and travel agents must be commended for all their efforts to rebound tourism post-Easter Sunday attacks in 2019. I strongly believe tourism is one industry Sri Lanka needs to prioritise to overcome the ongoing economic crisis,” Minister Fernando added.
Tourism earnings in the first eleven months were at $ 1.12 billion reflecting a 313% increase from the corresponding period of last year impacted by COVID-19.
In November, tourism earnings were estimated at $ 107.5 million, compared to $ 115.4 million in the same period a year earlier.
Sri Lanka lost over $ 10 billion in foreign exchange earnings, which generate over $ 4.3 billion annually, due to the pandemic during the past two years.
“It is easy to criticise, but at this economic juncture, it is crucial to reposition Sri Lanka as a destination and build confidence around it to attract international travellers. We have planned an eventful December themed ‘SriLankaCan’ within Colombo city limits, with the support of the industry stakeholders to entertain the travellers coming from around the world,” he said.
Minister Fernando recently outlined key strategies to double the arrivals to 1.5 million and to generate an income of over $ 5 billion highlighting the sector as a major economic driver.
“The ultimate target going into 2023 is to reposition Sri Lanka and to accomplish the pre-COVID benchmark.
We have set an ambitious arrival target of 1.5 million tourists for next year and a 3 million arrivals target for 2024. I am confident that we can make leapfrog to growth from 2024 onwards with the already initiated multiple initiatives, whilst rafts of plans are also in the pipeline,” he added.
