SriLankan Airlines aircraft parked at the Bandaranaike International Airport

• Welcomes return of tourists via pilot project as a great start
• Chairman Ashok Pathirage says with same guidelines as given to Ukrainian airlines and nationals, national carrier too will bring tourists as passengers
• SriLankan successfully operates 3 cargo services per week to Germany; plans to convert them to passenger flights with Frankfurt being a key hub in Europe
• Stresses national carrier has proven experience in promoting Sri Lanka as a tourist destination among international tour operators
• Germany fourth biggest tourist source market for Sri Lanka
• Pathirage says private sector hospitals have capacity to do 2,000 more PCR tests per day which can be channeled to cater to incoming tourists

By Nisthar Cassim

SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ashok Pathirage

SriLankan Airlines is to join in the return of tourism with the successful piloting of arrivals from Ukraine starting this week.

“We welcome the resumption of tourism, initially with the pilot project of bringing down Ukrainian tourists via a special Government supported initiative. This is a great start. The national carrier too will promote tourism and encourage foreign visitors with the Government agreeing to extend us the same guidelines to our passengers,” SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ashok Pathirage told the Daily FT.

For the pilot project between 27 December and 19 January, during which period nearly 3,000 Ukrainians are to be flown in via 12 flights, the Government offered PCR tests on arrival at the pre-booked hotel to be conducted by a private hospital arranged by the hotel, and carried out by a laboratory approved by the Health Ministry. 

A second PCR test will then be conducted 5-7 days after arrival at the hotel. 

In the even the tourist is staying longer, an additional PCR test will be conducted within 10-14 days of arrival as decided by the Medical Officer of Health.

Furthermore, the Ukrainian tourists are to be allowed to stay a minimum of seven days in Safe and Secure Certified hotels or hotels approved by the COVID Taskforce. The tourists are not permitted to move outside the hotel, except to identified sites approved by the COVID Taskforce. All this will be conducted inside a biosecurity bubble after the on-arrival PCR test result comes back negative.

“At present we are operating three flights per week to Germany carrying cargo. Germany has been a big market for Sri Lanka tourism. With the Government agreeing to extend the same support we will convert these flights to carry passenger tourists. We have the experience in promoting Sri Lanka as a safe holiday destination with tour operators in Germany, and we hope to start this initiative this week. Frankfurt is a key hub for Europe too,” Pathirage added.

Germany in 2019 was the fourth largest market with 135,000 arrivals. Europe in 2019 accounted for 48% of tourist arrivals. There were 887,572 tourists from Europe down by 13% from the previous year following the Easter Sunday attacks in April 2019.

The Ukrainian tourists are to be brought by charter flight operator SkyUp and Ukrainian International Airlines, with crew allowed to operate after taking a PCR test in their home country. This is to ensure smoother operations, a quick turnaround of aircraft and efficient rotation of crew.

Pathirage said if the pilot initiatives are successful Sri Lanka can also consider travel bubbles with several other countries, such as Australia and Singapore.

SriLankan also used to operate several flights to the UK (Sri Lanka’s second biggest tourist source market with near 200,000 arrivals in 2019) until most countries banned air services from and to the UK following the discovery of a more deadly COVID-19 strain there.

Pathirage, who is also the Chairman of Asiri Hospitals Group, said private sector healthcare providers have the capacity to conduct an additional 2,000 PCR tests per day (from 6,000 at present) which can be channelled towards visiting tourists. “The Government should consider encouraging and attracting more tourists with existing COVID-19 health guidelines,” he added.

Though the travel and tourism industry has in general welcomed the resumption of tourism via the pilot project, there have been allegations of discrimination, with returning Sri Lankans - especially valuable foreign exchange-earning migrant workers - required to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Some also expressed concern over the re-opening of borders for the pilot project since COVID-19 continues to spread globally.

Ukraine has recorded 1.06 million positive COVID-19 cases of which 691,000 - more than half - have recovered. However, the country has recorded 18,555 COVID-19 deaths so far. The capital Kiev has had 106,000 cases with over 37,000 recoveries and 1,854 deaths.

Last year there had been 35,000 tourists from Ukraine, marginally down from 36,500 in 2018 but higher in comparison to 23,853 in 2015.

Tourism is a key sector in boosting socio-economic growth in Sri Lanka. In 2019 the sector earned Rs. 646.3 billion or nearly 14% of total foreign exchange earnings and ranked number three. Tourist arrivals amounted to 1.9 million, down 18% from 2.3 million in 2018.

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