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Only 183 tourists with Covid since reopening

05 Jul 2021

 

  • Tourism Min. says over 17K tourists have arrived

  • 138 out of 183 treated and departed

  • SLTDA denies tourism led to spread

  By Dinitha Rathnayake   A total of 17,469 tourists have arrived in the country up to 4 July after the most recent reopening of the country’s borders to tourists on 1 June and only 183 of them have been reported to be infected with Covid-19, according to the Tourism Ministry. Out of these 183 Covid-19-infected tourists, 138 have been treated and have returned home. This was revealed at a special discussion chaired by Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga yesterday (5). The discussion was held to formulate future activities to bring in tourists to the island as per the health guidelines. A total of 2,258 tourists arrived under the pilot project launched last December 2020, of which only nine were reported to be Covid-19 positive. The highest number of tourists reported in March 2021 was around 4,581. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Director General Dhammika Wijesinghe emphasised that the allegation made by various parties that Covid-19 spread across the country due to the opening of the country’s borders to tourists was completely false. She said that none of the 183 tourists who were infected with Covid-19 had any close contact with the larger Sri Lankan society since they were in a bio travel bubble. Meanwhile, Ranatunga claimed that the Opposition was deliberately attempting to obstruct the entry of tourists to the country by creating a false fear among the people. The Minister also instructed the authorities to prepare a road map to expedite the process of attracting tourists to the country. Accordingly, he has instructed that a report be submitted to him within two days on the issues that exist, the action to be taken, the countries to be selected, and the promotional campaigns.  


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