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Wednesday, 4 May 2022 04:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Tourist arrivals fell by 41% in April in comparison to March, recording the lowest inflow for the year so far, shattering industry hopes for a post-pandemic upturn.
The provisional data by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) shows a total of 62,980 tourists arrived in April, largely due to political, economic and social unrest.
April numbers are a huge plunge from the previous month which recorded over 100,000 visitors after two years.
With latest data, year-to-date (YTD) tourist arrivals amounted to 348,314, a development thanks to the relatively peaceful period of January to March. The industry has already seen the surpassing of 2021 full-year arrivals of 194,500 and expectations were for a quick rebound in 2022.
However, the industry experts pointed out that the downward arrivals triggered earlier this month when the Government declared a state of emergency following the protest in Mirihana, which thereafter drew the public to the streets, demanding the administration to step down amidst worsening economic conditions post-Independence.
The provisional data showed that the daily average arrivals have dropped significantly from over 3,600 in March to 2,099 in April.
In April, the UK topped the tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 11,539, followed by India with 8,678, Germany with 6,088, France with 4,035 and Russia with 3,874. In addition, tourists were also received from Australia, Canada, US, Switzerland and Netherlands.
India stands strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with cumulative number of arrivals at 56,389, followed by UK 42,531, Russia with 41,591, Germany 28,768, France 19,091, Ukraine 13,621, Poland 12,206, Australia 10,369, Canada 8,696 and US 8,670.
The industry also feared that the numbers would further reduce with several airlines having decided to reduce the frequencies that they operate into Colombo. (CdeS)
