Sri Lanka receives over 5,000 tourists in August despite Covid 19 lockdown
Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities have revealed that there had been a sharp increase of 107% in tourist arrivals to the country in August despite the Covid 19 lockdown.
According to local media reports, the increase in tourist arrivals was influenced by the relaxed travel restrictions by authorities, especially for fully vaccinated travellers.
Arrivals in the first eight months of this year have been recorded at 24,377.
Data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has noted that in the month of August, the largest source markets were Canada (594), Germany (512), the UK (489), Pakistan (456) and India (405).
SLTDA has further noted that the desire to visit friends and relatives could have highly motivated travel, especially from Canada and the UK, whilst Germany had remained one of the key tourist markets throughout.
“The improvement in arrivals is a reflection of the acceleration in vaccination programs around the world, relaxed restrictions for vaccinated travellers, and growing travel confidence,” the SLTDA has announced.
It has also been noted that during January to August, Kazakhstan was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka, recording 13% of the total traffic received, while Ukraine accounted for 11%, Germany and the UK accounted for 8% each and China with 7%.
Europe has become the largest source region with 15,637 travellers of the total traffic received in the first eight months.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is on the path to recovery after facing the impact of the global Covid 19 pandemic. Tourism authorities in Sri Lanka are engaged in an aggressive promotional campaign to boost the country’s image as a tourist destination. While various offers and packages are being offered to foreign tourists, Sri Lanka is being featured in many international travel programmes as a must visit destination. The island has also been listed in the Top 25 island destination. Also, flights operated to Sri Lanka by international airlines are on the increase, indicating an increase in tourist arrivals to the country. All this has expanded the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/14092014/Z_2 |