Sri Lanka Tourism records 32,865 arrivals in June 2022 despite troubles
Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals in June 2022 increased by 8.8 % to 32,865 from 30,207 in May, despite the ongoing economic crisis, surpassing the 400,000 mark in the first half of this year, local media reported Monday.
According to the Tourism Ministry, a higher number of tourist arrivals were recorded last month due to cricket matches played between Sri Lanka and Australia.
Tourist arrivals in the first six months of this year amounted to 411,377, (against the 17,000 tourists in the COVID-hit first half of 2021), with India being the largest source market for Sri Lanka, followed by Britain and Russia. Last Wednesday, Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to restart the services of the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot to the country.
Aeroflot suspended Moscow-Colombo passenger flight services last month after a Sri Lankan court briefly detained one of its planes following a commercial dispute over payment. Russians accounted for almost a fifth of total tourist arrivals in the months before the war started in Ukraine .Even if the flights resume, it may not be easy to attract Russian tourists as they could find it difficult to pay for things while they are on holiday. Several Russian banks have been disconnected from using the SWIFT international payment system and Visa and Master credit cards have suspended Russian operations in response to Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Sri Lanka's tourism industry has been facing obstacles in recent months due to a severe fuel shortage and the worsening economic crisis, prompting the United Kingdom and New Zealand to join a growing list of countries that has asked its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Sri Lanka.
Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Priantha Fernando said steps would be taken to soften the impact of such warnings. We are continuously working on providing a hassle-free experience to tourists who visit Sri Lanka, he said in his tweet.
Meanwhile, in a fast changing economic and political environment, Sri Lanka plans to tap Indian tourists to revive the South Asian Island’s battered tourism sector and shore up its depleted foreign exchange reserves.
Authorities plan to hold road shows starting next month in five Indian cities to attract travelers seeking “wellness, leisure, and Ramayana-trail,” tours, corporate functions and destination weddings. Ramayana is the mythological life story of the Hindu god Ram.
Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi have been picked for the road shows. The bankrupt nation hopes to attract about 1 million tourists in 2022, compared to less than 200,000 arrivals last year.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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