Sri Lanka draws nearly 200,000 tourists in 2021

•  Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga signals faster recovery; forecasts 100-125,000 tourists in January 

Sri Lanka has been successful in attracting nearly 200,000 tourists in 2021 despite the challenges emanating from the global COVID pandemic.

As per provisional data, Sri Lanka finished 2021 with 194,495 tourists with December attracting a record 89,506 highest for a month since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.

India topped the list of countries bringing in the most tourists with 56,268; followed by Russia 16,894, UK 16,646, Germany 12,442, and Ukraine 7,037.

The 2021 figure is however lower in comparison to 507,704 tourists attracted in 2020 largely on account of robust inflows since 2019 and tail-end of the 2019/20 winter season. From March 2020, Sri Lankan borders were closed for 10 months.

With partial reopening in January, which saw 1,682 tourists, arrivals have been on the rise in tandem with the vaccination roll-out, improved health and safety precautions, and easing of travel restrictions.

The Government is pinning a lot of hopes on tourism as a low-hanging fruit to boost foreign exchange earnings.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga described the achievement of nearly 200,000 tourist arrivals in 2021 amidst the pandemic as a major breakthrough.

“We hope this trend will continue. Our expectations are that tourist arrivals will improve to 100-125,000 in January,” Minister Ranatunga added.  

He said that in 2022, the Government will work towards increasing tourist arrivals, thereby ensuring its quicker revival and enhancing the contribution to the socio-economic recovery in the country.

In 2018, Sri Lanka attracted a record 2.3 million tourists followed by 1.9 million in 2019, which marked the year of the Easter Sunday tragedy.