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Over 44,000 tourist arrivals in December

23 Dec 2021

  • Jan. to 20 Dec. arrivals exceed 150,000
By Imsha Iqbal During the month of December this year, a total of 44,120 tourists have arrived in Sri Lanka for the holiday season, The Morning Business learns. Speaking to us on Wednesday (22), Ministry of Tourism Secretary S. Hettiarachchi stated: “Upto 20 December, total arrivals for the month are 44,120 while total arrivals in 2021 (up to 20 December) are 150,244.” On Tuesday (21), speaking to The Morning Business, a Ministry of Tourism official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that in comparison to the earlier year (2020) and the year before (2019), the period following the Easter Sunday attacks, the tourism sector is gradually improving with an increase in tourist arrivals. However, the anticipated growth has not yet taken place. Responding to the inquiry on next year’s expectation of tourist arrivals, Ministry of Tourism Secretary Hettiarachchi said: “It is unable to predict the normalising of the tourism sector.” Hettiarachchi further said that the expectation for the year 2021 on the arrival of tourists was 200,000, in accordance with the target given by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has supported the tourism sector via a number of concessions in terms of an extended grace period for utility bill payments, moratoriums, and relief package on vehicle leasing, with the expectation of sustaining the hardly-hit sector with the worldwide aviation restrictions that were imposed as a measure against Covid-19. Moreover, during the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2021 (SLES2021) organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairperson Kimarli Fernando expressed that the country is to be kept open despite the variant of concern, known as Omicron, that has been announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in order to revive tourism inflows. This is due to the fact that Sri Lanka is currently facing an economic crisis, as the country is starving of foreign reserves amidst the pandemic. The aforementioned was also stressed during a parliamentary session held last month by Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila. He said: “Sri Lanka is currently facing the worst economic challenge we have ever faced in the history of the nation. One of the challenges we are facing is the lack of foreign exchange. The poor people might not be able to comprehend such big words, but they feel the pinch of the economic crisis. The first step forward is by acknowledging that we do have a problem in the country.”

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