Indo-Lanka travel bubble approved subject to health guidelines

Monday, 19 April 2021 03:27 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SriLankan Airlines announces passenger flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore
5 more cities identified under phase 2
National Carrier will assess COVID situation and guidelines in India before operating flights
India was the biggest source market for Sri Lanka tourism pre-COVID accounting for 20% of arrivals
UL operated over 100 flights to 11 Indian destinations originally

By Charumini de Silva

The much anticipated travel bubble between Sri Lanka and India has been approved subject to compliance with both countries’ COVID health guidelines.

Following the go ahead, SriLankan Airlines has announced twice weekly passenger flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore as the first phase.

The national carrier was already operating cargo flights to these cities previously; prior to COVID-19, SriLankan Airlines was the biggest international carrier to India serving 11 cities with over 100 flights per week.

A travel bubble with India had been aggressively pursued since it is one of the biggest tourist markets for Sri Lanka. However with a spike in COVID-19 cases in India and new restrictions, prospects of Sri Lanka resuming tourist arrivals from its giant neighbour may take longer, airline sources told the Daily FT.

The national carrier will continuously assess the situation in India before operating the passenger flights which have been listed for bookings.

As per the bilateral air bubble agreement, Hyderabad, Madurai, Kochi, Trichy and Thiruvananthapuram are some of the other cities identified under phase two.

According to Sri Lanka Tourism data, India accounts for around 20% of total tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka. In 2018, tourist arrivals from India amounted to a record 425,000, in 2019 the figure was 355,000, but last year it fell to 89,357 or 18% of the total due to COVID-19. In the first quarter of 2021, there were 183 tourist arrivals from India or 4% of the total, as Sri Lanka re-opened borders and resumed international tourism from 21 January.

Post-resumption of tourism, Kazakhstan, Germany, United Kingdom, Ukraine and China were the top five source markets in the first quarter of 2021, during which period Sri Lanka attracted nearly 10,000 tourists.

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