Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Monday, 3 October 2022 03:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charumini de Silva
Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals fell by 21% in September in comparison to August suffering the lowest inflow for the year so far, dealing a fresh setback to triple-crises-hit industry’s hope for a robust revival in the upcoming winter season.
As per provisional data of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) only 29,802 tourists arrived in September, largely due to the negative portrayal of the current situation in the country.
Industry stakeholders claimed the exaggerated negative publicity was hurting industry sentiment and prospects.
September arrivals fell below the previous record low of 30,207 in May, whilst placing June at the third lowest inflow with 32,856.
Despite the political and economic environment showing some improvement and less volatility than what was witnessed in May and April, industry stakeholders were disappointed with the downturn in arrivals, against the backdrop of many source markets relaxed travel advisories imposed on Sri Lanka too.
“This is mainly due to negative publicity by International Non-Government Organisations that are portraying an entirely different picture to the ground realities. These are outweighing all the positive publicity efforts by the industry,” they alleged.
However, the resilient private sector-driven industry is pinning much hope for the upcoming months following the roadshow conducted in IFTM France, India, as well as the resumption of the Russian flag carrier. Aeroflot from next Monday (10 October) and Russia’s largest charter airline, Azur Air from November.
Arrivals in the first nine months amounted to 526,232 (as against 37,924 in the first nine months of COVID-hit 2021), a welcome development for the triple-hit tourism industry, but performance is still down by 66.8% compared to the same period in pre-COVID 2018.
However, the industry has already surpassed the 2021 full-year arrivals of 194,495 and expectations were for a quick rebound in 2022.
In September, India topped the tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 6,493 tourists reflecting 22% of the total arrivals, followed by the UK with 2,872 tourists (10%), Australia with 2,309 (8%), Germany with 2,149 (7%), and Russia with 1,553 (5%). In addition, tourists were also received from Canada, Maldives, France, Spain, and the US.
India remains strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with cumulative number of arrivals at 86,625 followed by UK 68,527, Russia with 51,300, Germany 42,508, France 29,436, Australia 20,721, Canada 20,608, US 15,250, Ukraine 13,977, and Poland 13,562.
Sri Lanka has set a target of one million tourists with over $ 1.7 billion for the year 2022, despite multiple challenges.
Tourism earnings in the first seven months were at $ 824.9 million, as against $ 50.4 million in the same period a year earlier, the Central Bank provisional data shows. In July 2021, tourism earnings were estimated at $ 85.1 million, compared to $ 6.3 million in the same period a year earlier. Sri Lanka lost over $ 10 billion in foreign exchange earnings, which generate over $ 4.3 billion annually, due to the pandemic during the past two years.
