SL awaits advisory from MoH on handling tourist arrivals from China

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• SLTDA unclear if a separate set of protocols will be rolled out exclusively for tourists arriving from China
• Points out that while dollars are important, economy cannot be put at risk

As China is looking to reopen after being massively hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing its population to travel worldwide, countries, including Sri Lanka, are becoming cautious in welcoming tourists from that market.
While China’s decision to relax its strong Covid-19 rules, announced earlier this month,

gave hope to many countries in the possibility of improving their respective tourism sector, the surge in Covid-19 infections and casualties reported in recent days is raising fresh concerns.

“A few weeks back, we were seriously banking on China relaxing its controls and opening up but the situation now raises concerns. We are looking to welcome tourists from China. However, we need to be cautious,” Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Prinatha Fernando told Mirror Business.

“Dollars are important but we need to ensure that there won’t be another outbreak which will then negatively impact the economy,” he added.

China was the third largest tourist traffic generator for destination Sri Lanka in 2019, just before the pandemic stuck.

The SLTDA has already held discussions with the Health Ministry on the course of action that should be taken as the island nation gets ready to welcome tourists from China. While a fresh health advisory will be shared in the coming days, Fernando said it is still being determined if there would be a blanket implementation of the new health guidelines or if the implementation would be only for tourists arriving from China.

Only recently, Sri Lanka scrapped its mandatory Covid-19 health guidelines for those arriving from overseas.
While Sri Lanka awaits the final decision from the Health Ministry, a growing list of countries is imposing Covid-19 rules on Chinese arrivals. The United States, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, Italy and India are some of the countries that announced new health guidelines to be followed.

China’s National Health Commission announced recently that from January 8, inbound travellers will no longer have to go into quarantine and there will be no official restriction on Chinese people going abroad.

World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to Twitter to state that the health agency remains extremely concerned over the Covid situation in China, as it witnesses a spike in cases following easing of restrictions. 

“In the absence of comprehensive information from #China, it is understandable that countries around the world are acting in ways that they believe may protect their populations. #COVID19,” Ghebreyesus tweeted.