Tourist arrivals soar​​ in October with over 22,000 visitors

• SL welcomes over 60,000 visitors in January – October period
• India, UK, and Pakistan largest source markets for October
• Asia and Pacific generates highest tourism traffic for SL

Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka witnessed a leap in the month of October with over 22,000 international visitors entering the country, bringing the number of arrivals for the year so far to exceed 60,000.

The latest arrivals report from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that Sri Lanka in October welcomed a total of 22,771 visitors, which the authority said is a “modest improvement” 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, softer restrictions for vaccinated travellers, use of digital tools to facilitate safe travel such as EU COVID Certificate and growing consumer confidence,” 

the SLTDA said.  The largest source markets for October were India, the United Kingdom and Pakistan, followed by Germany and Canada. The top three source markets accounted for 39.9 percent, 9.8 percent, and 9 percent of the total tourism traffic for October 2021.

Region-wise, Asia and the Pacific became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 56.4 percent of the total traffic received for the month in review.

The SLTDA noted that given the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the region, Asia and the Pacific becoming the largest contributor to tourism traffic could be considered a significant growth.

“Geographic proximity being one of the main drivers of destination choice now, pent up demand especially from countries such as China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India is likely to have driven this growth momentum,” the SLTDA said in the report.

Although the SLTDA expects improved tourist arrivals from China, ForwardKeys, a provider of comprehensive travel data, projected that it is only in 2025 that Chinese outbound travel will recover to pre-pandemic levels. 
While Asia is looking to revive the hard-hit tourism sector, China is not part of that agenda as it has tight quarantine rules for returning travellers.

Meanwhile, for the month of October, Sri Lanka saw Europe accounting for 36.3 percent of the total traffic while Americas accounted for 5.7 percent. In comparison to October 2019, all regions have recorded a decline in arrivals.

As recovery continues, an increase in arrivals could be anticipated as a keen enthusiasm and readiness to travel and explore the world again is demonstrated by travellers, enabled by access to vaccines and easing of border restrictions, the SLTDA said.

Cumulative analysis for the January – October 2021 period showed that India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine were Sri Lanka’s top five international tourist-generating markets, bringing a total of 60, 695 visitors to the country in the first 10 months.