With airports resuming, Sri Lanka targets one million tourist arrivals in 2021 as it has eased entry restrictions for tourists who are vaccinated, The Morning Business learns.

Speaking to The Morning Business, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Director General Dhammika Wijesinghe said that despite targeting 800,000 tourist arrivals for 2021, the first quarter only amounted to 9,629 arrivals due to the travel restrictions imposed in the beginning of the year.

“Sri Lanka’s Tourism Board hopes to witness an increase in tourist arrivals in the months of July and August following the recently relaxed health guidelines and reduction in the quarantine period post vaccinations,” Wijesinghe added.
Sri Lanka reopened its borders at the beginning of this year after a 10-month pandemic closure and a steep decline in 2021 in tourist arrivals compared to the total arrivals in 2020 (for the few months the borders were open) amounting to 507,704 arrivals, compared to 1.9 million in 2019.

Sri Lanka introduced the “bio-bubble” system in 2021 whereby international leisure travellers must complete 14 daysof quarantine in an approved “Covid-safe” hotel. During this time, they must take regular Covid-19 tests, and be covered by travel insurance, but they are still allowed to visit certain approved tourist sites at designated times. Travel to tourist attractions needs to happen via a travel agent or transport arranged by their hotel, and they must refrain from interacting with locals.
Additionally, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has updated the existing quarantine regulations to allow citizens and foreign visitors to enter the country two weeks after they’ve had their final dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Additionally, MoH claimed that the daily number of Covid-19 cases is decreasing in Sri Lanka. As of Tuesday (6 April), 93,595 cases were reported, with 581 deaths.

Meanwhile, for non-vaccinated tourists, a PCR test is required on arrival and another on the seventh day of their stay. Guests must also be confined to one hotel for the first 14 days of their stay, if they are not departing before that.

The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during March 2021 was 4,581. In comparison to March last year (2020), there was a decline of 93.6% when the arrivals were 71,370. Accordingly, the Tourism Ministry claimed that the figures reflect the unprecedented health, social, and economic crisis caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The main source markets for the first quarter of this year were Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Germany, Russia, and the UK. Europe became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka making up 76.1% of the total traffic received in March 2021. Asia and Pacific accounted for 13.9% of the total traffic while the Americas accounted for 6.9%. Arrivals from Kazakhstan and Iran have recorded a growth in comparison to March 2020.

The Morning via Travel Voice