Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka surpass 13,000 in Sept '21
The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during September 2021 was 13,547. Since re-opening its borders on 21st January 2021, a total 37,924 tourists have arrived during the first nine months of the year
The cumulative total in 2021 year-to-date is 92.5% below last year’s total which too was disrupted following a pandemic-induced closure from 18th March 2020.
Visitors from Asia Pacific became the largest source of tourists to Sri Lanka with 78.9 percent of total arrivals in September. Europe accounted for 17.3 percent of total arrivals, while that of the Americas accounted 3.2 percent of total arrivals.
Emerging as top five international tourist-generating markets for the first nine months of the year are India, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Kazakhstan had recorded a growth in comparison to total arrivals up to September 2020, likely owing to the pilot project carried out earlier in a bid to revive the tourism industry.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in its monthly arrivals report said the significant increase in tourists could reflect the improvement in international tourism owing to key factors such as; the increase in vaccination programmes around the world, softer restrictions for vaccinated travelers, and growing consumer confidence.
According to SLTDA, given the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the region’s contribution, September performance can be considered as significant growth.“Geographic proximity being one of the main drivers of destination choice now, pent up demand especially from countries such as China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India are likely to have driven this growth momentum,” SLTDA said.
Hospitality Sri Lanka News
|
|
|
|
India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka in the month of September with 63.0 percent of the total traffic, followed by Germany (3.4 %), the UK (2.3%), Russia (2.2%), and Canada (2.0%).