August tourist arrivals dip 20% from July

3 September 2022 12:00 am Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 9 Bookmark

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August arrivals totalled 37,760
Destination SL inches away from reaching half a million arrivals mark for 2022
UK, India and Germany rank as top three source markets for August
SriLankan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates rank as top three carriers that have helped generate tourist traffic to SL

The tourist arrivals for the month of August witnessed a 20 percent dip when compared with the previous month, with the numbers totalling to 37,760.

With the August number, the arrivals for the first eight months of the year totalled to 496,420, making Sri Lanka inches away from the half a million mark.

The August arrival figure is a dip when compared with the marginal increase in the number of international visitors entering the country seen in the month of June and July. After the impressive arrivals seen in March (106,500), the highest since Sri Lanka opened for tourism after the pandemic, the numbers crumbled to 62,980 in April and then further contracted to 30,207 in May, due to the worsening of the political and economic crisis in the country.

The month of June and July saw the arrivals improve to 32,856 and 47,293. However, the reimposition of travel advisories against the island nation resulted in dampened arrival numbers for August.

The provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority show that the first week of August had the highest weekly arrivals (11,046), after which the number of international visitors entering the country continued to decline for the next two weeks and picked up once again in the final week (8,847). The improvement in August week three from week two (8,317) can be attributed to the increase in confidence amongst tourists around the world to visit destination Sri Lanka, as the country’s situation began to improve.

The top source markets for Sri Lanka tourism for August are the United Kingdom, India and Germany, whereas the top three airlines that contributed to the arrivals are SriLankan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines. The cumulative analysis shows that for the January 01 to August 31 period, the top three tourist traffic generators are India, the United Kingdom and Russian Federation.

With the political and economic environment showing some improvement and less volatility than what was witnessed in the months of April and May, tourist source markets began relaxing travel advisories to the country last week.

Majority of the nations relaxed the travel advisories from Level 3 (orange) - ‘Reconsider need to travel, to Level 2 (yellow) - ‘Exercise a high degree of caution. A further relaxation will place Sri Lanka among the ‘green’ nations where tourists are advised to ‘Exercise normal safety precaution’, which is the lowest advisory. A higher advisory means higher risk.

Some of the countries that relaxed the travel advisory to Sri Lanka include the UK, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.

Comments - 9

Releasing dollar peg will attact more UK people Saturday, 03 September 2022 08:51 AM

UK tourists might be diverting to South India and Kerala, as their pounds/dollars can get them far more nights in 5-star hotels than they can here. Prices of goods here, is going up. Even hotel has to charge further for AC use with electricity charged at what it cost to generate. And they have diesel generator for 24 hour operations too. Only releasing the peg on dollar will give overseas money/tourists more interest to come here compared to nearby similarly warm beach having destinations. Day by day as inflation goes up, but while dollar is pegged and the buying ability of even tourists deteriorates. Past tourists mention about the changes in costs on social media.

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Maharagma man Saturday, 03 September 2022 11:32 AM

Is the August number an anomaly, or is it usual, from before the covid-19 pandemic for there to be dip in numbers after July? It is only beginning Autumn in UK, so those people don't have reason to start traveling for our much better climate conditions. India recently tanked us with their travel advisory about problems here, but that was recent.

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John MacDonald Saturday, 03 September 2022 04:06 PM

Sri Lankan hotels in the mid - range are not , and never have been , value for money. Absolute top end hotels are value compared to similar European prices but the rest definately not. Hotel owners are greedy , before the current situation their costs were far lower than european hotels and wages to their staff appalling , but still they charged almost similar to europe. Europeans travellers arriving from trips via India often mention how India is much cheaper and value for money.

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Punchi Saturday, 03 September 2022 05:10 PM

My understanding is Hindu groups who organised a demo outside Indian parliament is now discouraging tourism to our most blessed but failed paradise. But is OK we may not have food, fuel, tourists etc, our stomachs may be empty but we something very unique our unique version of the triple Gem that fills our souls

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Sam Saturday, 03 September 2022 06:12 PM

The majority were not tourist as such. Just ex Sri Lankans who have moved into greener pastures returning to see family who haven't yet been able to leave.

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Paul Mercer Saturday, 03 September 2022 09:06 PM

Sri Lanka is not a cheap destination anymore. Hotels charge in dollars and the GBP and Euro are at historic lows against the dollar. Throw in 70% inflation, lack of food ( i haven't seen an apple or cheese or wedges for weeks), power cuts, walking streets in the dark and no fuel to navigate the country the traditional markets will not come. Oh and by the way there is a European wide recession imminent

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Pantha Kumaran Sunday, 04 September 2022 02:26 PM

Please note these people visited Sri Lanka during July and August are not proper tourists. They are Sri Lankans who now hold foreign passports. When you produce your September figures you will see a heavy drop in this figures. Please do not fool people with wrong information.

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“ The Lansi Burgher Gent “ Monday, 05 September 2022 05:31 AM

There’s no lure to come here anymore. Most foreigners know they are being fleeced, from the tuk tuk chap to the bell boy at the hotel. Wherever they go, most are out to make a quick buck out of them. There’s nothing much left anyways - the jungles and forest reserves are almost void of most wildlife, i.e leopards (hunted illegally and you will be lucky to see one, if at all) elephants - declining in number due to ignorant villagers killing them and poachers joining in for the tusks, our beaches are filthy (plastic strewn all over, rubber slippers, tin cans, broken bottles and what have you) the hills almost barren with houses cropping up all over (e.g Kandy - what has come of it today, sadly) and our tea estates turned into a very depressing sight (many estates aren’t estates anymore, dilapidated colonial bungalows and places like Nuwara Eliya and Ella becoming a severe eyesore. “Godey” is the word) This is a paradise lost unfortunately and it has lost its sparkle. Better off in Goa.

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rbh Monday, 05 September 2022 09:38 AM

The tourist has advance information as the water price is high how can they dip in the water, The August arrival figure is a dip. To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries how can you give this flavor to our country the sri lankan living in other country are advising the present situation

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