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Tuesday, 9 February 2021 01:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charumini de Silva
With zero figures for ten months, Sri Lanka has been able to record 1,682 tourist arrivals in January, following the reopening of borders just two weeks before closure of the month.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) sources yesterday confirmed that the country received 1,682 tourists, of whom nearly 87% or 1,460 were Ukrainians inspired by the pilot project and deployment of special flights.
Other tourists to come in January were 30 from Belarus, 27 from China, 20 from Russia, 19 from Germany, 18 from Netherlands and 17 each from Canada, India and the Maldives. There were 10 tourists from the US as well.
Private sector industry sources told the Daily FT that arrival of over 1,600 tourists in the first 11 days of reopening was “very encouraging.”
“We believe with improved confidence, tourist arrivals will increase in the coming months,” they added.
Though incomparable, in January last year there were 228,434 tourists, and the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic saw the closure of borders in late March 2020.
“The figures reflect the unprecedented health, social and economic crisis caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, international tourist arrivals plunged by 74% in 2020 over the previous year with the travel restrictions imposed by almost all the destinations since the month of April,” SLTDA sources said, citing the January 2021 World Tourism Barometer issued by the UNWTO.
Europe became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 93.6 % of the total traffic received in January 2021. Asia and Pacific accounted for 4.8% of the total traffic, while the Americas accounted for 1.6%.
SLTDA said globally, all the regions were severely impacted by the pandemic, and that the Asia and Pacific regions, which were the first to suffer the impact of the pandemic, recorded a decline of 83%, while Middle East and Africa recorded a drop of 75%. The decline recorded for the Americas was 69%, SLTDA said, citing the World Tourism Barometer – January 2021.
Post-resumption, tourist arrivals have been capped at 1,500 per day, whilst the industry is of the belief that the 2021 summer season will be busier following widespread use of vaccines in several tourist source markets of Sri Lanka.
