• Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga to lead 6-member promotional delegation next week
• Bilateral talks to be held with travel trade and investors 
• Ukraine second biggest tourist source market despite the pandemic
• Pre-COVID tourist arrivals from Russia hit an all-time high of 86,549

By Charumini de Silva

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga

Sri Lanka will make a fresh effort to woo more Russian and Ukrainian tourists with a top-level industry delegation slated to visit the two countries as a new promotional initiative.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga will lead the six-member delegation, which is planning to hold bilateral talks with travel trade and potential investors in Moscow, followed by a similar engagement in Ukraine, the Daily FT learns.

The Minister will be accompanied by Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Vice Chairman Rajiv Sooriyaarachchi, Tourism Ministry Additional Secretary (Aviation) Sunil Gunawardena, Tourism Advisory Committee Member Nimesh Herath and Tourism Ministry Media Secretary Pradeep Kumara.

Industry sources said the delegation will also participate in a travel and trade show in Moscow. In addition, officials will hold discussions with Russia’s Aeroflot, which plans to operate twice weekly direct flights to Colombo.

The planned destination marketing effort will span nine days from 3-11 September, for which President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also gave approval yesterday. 

SriLankan Airlines last month launched an innovative ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ air ticket offer to attract more tourists post-pandemic. The promotion is jointly coordinated by Sri Lanka Tourism and SriLankan Airlines in partnership with the travel and hotel industries.

SriLankan Airlines recently resumed weekly direct flights to Moscow deploying an Airbus A330 configured for 269 economy and 28 business class seats. For the Russian market, the ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offer is valid till 31 October. 

For Minister Ranatunga, next week’s engagement in Russia will be the second within weeks. As a symbolic gesture, he joined the inaugural flight of SriLankan Airlines. During his brief stay in Moscow, he held a useful meeting with Russian Federation Federal Agency for Tourism (FAT) Deputy Head Lysenkova Elena Vasilievna and Head of the Department of International Cooperation Smilevets Demyan Olegovich.

In the first seven months of 2021, there had been 702 Russian tourists, as the country ranked as the ninth largest source market. Last year, there were 49,400 Russian tourists before Sri Lanka closed its borders as result of the pandemic. Russia was the third biggest source market in 2020.

In 2019, tourist arrivals from Russia hit an all-time high with its flag carrier Aeroflot’s expansion of services to Colombo playing a key part. That year, Russia was the seventh biggest source market, with 86,549 tourists arriving, reflecting a high 34% growth in comparison to 2018. 

Since the initiation of the pilot project for Ukrainian travellers from 28 December 2020 till 12 August, Sri Lanka saw 21,951 tourist arrivals. Ukraine has been the second biggest source market so far this year accounting for 18%, or 2,700, arrivals after Kazakhstan whose share is 21%, or 3,200 arrivals. Last year, 17,000 Ukrainians had visited in the first seven months.

Sri Lanka’s efforts to draw more tourists come amidst claims by some members of the Opposition that pilot Ukrainian project aggravated the COVID spread. 

However, the Tourism Ministry and industry associations have denied any links. 

According to the Tourism Ministry, of the total tourists who arrived, only 220 tourists were COVID-infected, and 150 of them recovered and returned to their homeland.

At present there are over 6,000 tourists in the country, as per Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

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