Indians top list of tourists to Sri Lanka

Indians topped the list of holiday makers in Sri Lanka in the month of October, officials here said on Tuesday, as the island nation is showing a gradual revitalisation of leisure tourism after being impacted by the pandemic.

“The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during October was 22,771. A modest improvement in the month of October can be noticed following the sharp contraction in arrivals after the month of April. This reflects the improvement in international arrivals owing to factors such as vaccination advances around the world,” Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said.

India, the UK, Pakistan, Russia and Germany were the top five international tourist generating markets during October, it said.

“India was the largest source of tourist visits to Sri Lanka with 37 per cent of the total traffic received in October. The UK and Pakistan accounted for 10 per cent and 9 per cent of the total traffic respectively,” the Tourism Development Authority said.

The growth in arrivals from countries in the Americas, and Western, Central and Eastern Europe, suggests a slight revitalisation of leisure tourism, potentially enabled by factors such as the gradual improvement of traveller confidence, the lifting of travel restrictions, it said.

As of October 31, a total number of 60,695 tourists had visited Sri Lanka, this year. It is a decline of 88 per cent over the last year when 507,311 tourists had visited the country from January to March 18.

Sri Lanka’s economy has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to a slump in the arrival of foreign tourists to the island nation. The country has so far reported 545,935 confirmed cases and 13,875 deaths due to the disease.