• 9 more services scheduled until 24 January bringing 200 passengers each

 By Charumini de Silva

Over 500 Ukrainians have so far arrived in Sri Lanka for short holidays with health safety guidelines in place, tourism industry sources told the Daily FT.

Between 28 December 2020 and 2 January, three flights have brought in 556 Ukrainians, marking a breakthrough in the travel and tourism industry, which had been crippled due to the spread of COVID-19 since mid-March 2020.

Charter flights operator SkyUp has operated two flights, including the inaugural one, bringing in 352 Ukrainian tourists; and Ukraine International Airlines has flown in 204 guests in its solitary flight, operated on 29 December 2020. 

Services to the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) by these two were the first leisure-traveller-filled flights since Sri Lanka closed its borders in mid-March last year. 

As per the itinerary seen by the Daily FT, the two airlines are scheduled to operate nine more flights each, bringing around 200 tourists until 24 January. 

A total of 12 flights were scheduled to bring nearly 3,000 Ukrainian tourists, an initiative championed by former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga and backed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Presidential Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Eradication Chairman Basil Rajapaksa, and Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga. 

To facilitate the Ukrainian tourists as a pilot project as well as explore prospects to formally resume tourism, Health authorities issued less strict COVID safety guidelines, such as PCR tests at the designated hotel and a minimum stay of seven days, etc. Of those who arrived, so far only six Ukrainians have tested positive for COVID-19 and are being treated. 

Ukraine has recorded over 1.1 million COVID-19-positive cases, of which 749,000 — more than half — have recovered. However, the country has recorded 19,498 COVID-19 deaths so far. The capital Kiev has had 113,000 cases with over 40,000 recoveries and 1,942 deaths. These high numbers prompted criticism of the pilot project from certain quarters but the tourism industry has backed it, saying that Sri Lanka can manage any possible COVID-positive cases arising from the resumption of tourism.

In 2019, there had been 35,000 tourists from Ukraine, marginally down from 36,500 in 2018 but higher in comparison to 23,853 in 2015.

Following the Ukrainian initiative, national carrier SriLankan Airlines has started to market the destination in Germany among prospective tourists as it operates three flights per week to Frankfurt, a popular European hub. 

In 2019, Germany was the fourth largest market with 135,000 arrivals. Europe, in 2019, accounted for 48% of tourist arrivals. There were 887,572 tourists from Europe, down by 13% from the previous year following the Easter Sunday attacks in April 2019.



 

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