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Thursday, 9 September 2021 03:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Tourist arrivals in August sharply increased by 107% to 5,040 from July, despite the ongoing third wave of the COVID-pandemic.
The increase was largely influenced by the relaxed travel restrictions by authorities last month, particularly for fully vaccinated travellers and permitting international tourists to enter the country via the Indian route.
Arrivals in the first eight months were 24,377 – a welcome development since the reopening of borders on 21 January, but down by 95% from corresponding period of last year.
In August, the largest source markets were Canada (594), Germany (512) and the UK (489), Pakistan (456) and India (405), the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.
The presence of Pakistan and India in the top source markets is noteworthy in light of the surge in the Delta variant in the region and the travel restrictions for Indians. SLTDA said the desire to visit friends and relatives could have highly motivated travel, especially from Canada and the UK, whilst Germany had been a one of the key tourist markets throughout.
On 12 August, the Government decided to facilitate tourists from India after three months, subject to strict health guidelines and prior approvals. India is the biggest tourist source market for Sri Lanka. Following the lift on the ban, the national carrier SriLankan Airlines too resumed passenger flights to India and extended its innovative ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ air ticket offer.
“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 said.
However, during January to August, Kazakhstan was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka, with 13% of the total traffic received, Ukraine accounted for 11%, whilst Germany and the UK accounted for 8% each and China with 7%.
Europe became the largest source region with 15,637 travellers of the total traffic received in the first eight months, whilst Asia Pacific and the Americas accounted for 5,506 and 2,670 tourists respectively.
The COVID-19 pandemic has raged from March 2020 onwards and the latest drop in arrivals reinforce the continuous struggles of the tourism industry.
The gradual prominence of the Kazakhstan market is noteworthy as arrivals from Kazakhstan in the first half of the year recorded a 37% growth in comparison to total arrivals in the same period a year earlier. Kazakhstan also led arrivals in the first half with 3,197, as a result of a pilot project carried out to revive the industry following a 10-month pandemic-induced closure and commencement of regular flights by its national carrier.
Sri Lanka has banned several regions, including Africa and South America.
