Tourist arrivals fall 7.4% in Jan.

Tuesday, 4 February 2020 01:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Chinese visitors drop 15% to 22,363; Tourism officials fear February dip will be bigger
Sri Lanka Tourism Chief to speak with stakeholders on new strategy to pitch China

By Charumini de Silva

Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals fell by 7.4% to 226,094 in January from a year earlier, largely influenced by the sharp drop in visitors from China with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

According to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Chinese tourist arrivals fell 15% from 22,363 in January compared to 26,414 same period last year.

Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando

Noting that the Chinese account to a significant portion of the global tourism, SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando said Sri Lanka too will be impacted negatively.

“Considering the arrival numbers, there is a drop in overall tourists received in January. It is difficult to predict the drop in numbers, but February will be bigger,” she feared.

Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka last week informed its nationals from novel coronavirus affected areas including Hubei Province to cancel or postpone their visits to Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is now preapproving visas to visitors only from Chinese cities, where there are no large concentrations of coronavirus infections. The authorities have also stopped issuing on-arrival visas to Chinese travellers.

Although China has also stopped outgoing group tours from the country, she said individuals and families still continue to arrive.

Fernando said Sri Lanka Tourism will take all measures and discuss with key industry stakeholders on how they are going to pitch to the Chinese market in going forward, noting that it is a key source market. “We need to look at a different profile in terms of pitching to the middle to the high-end travellers in China,” she added.

On an average Sri Lanka receives about 4,800 Chinese tourists per week from various airlines including China Southern, China Eastern, China Air and SriLankan Airlines.

From today onwards a prohibition has been put in place for visitors from accompanying passengers inside the airport until further notice and for passengers arriving from China, a separate exit terminal has been set up at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).