Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has taken a beating following coronavirus outbreak

According to the latest data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) the total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka fell by 17.7% to 207,507 in February from a year earlier, when the arrivals were 252,033 mainly due to the drop in Chinese tourist, following the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

February marked the second consecutive month of drop in tourist arrivals. In January, arrivals fell by 6.5% to 228,434.

This month, the largest source market for tourists was India, followed by the United Kingdom and Russian Federation.

Europe became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 60.1 % of the total traffic received in February 2020. Asia and Pacific accounted for 31.2% of the total traffic, Americas 6.9%, Middle East 1.2% and Africa 0.6%.

In comparison to February last year the highest decline of 32.3% was recorded for Middle East region while Asia and Pacific recorded a decline of 31.3%. Americas recorded a decline of 16.2 % whereas Europe recorded a decline of 8.2%.

All regions have recorded a decline in arrivals mainly  due to the outbreak of the COVID -19 coupled with the effects of Easter attack.

It is noteworthy that Arrivals from Russian Federation has recorded an increase of 61% in comparison to February 2019. In contrast, tourist arrivals from China has recorded a decline of 92.5% in comparison to February 2019.

China has been dropped from the top ten tourist generating markets of Sri Lanka for the first time since 2012.

The new coronavirus infection first surfaced in late 2019 in the Chinese city Wuhan, and the disease has since killed nearly 3,203 people in China.

Amid travel bans and trip postponements, demand for air travel has fallen, leading to more than 200,000 flight cancellations.

Sri Lanka Tourism recently noted that the tourism sector could suffer a further setback in the period ahead, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus that originated in China and spread to several other countries.

China is Sri Lanka’s second-largest source market and brought in 167,863 travellers last year. China has over 150 million outbound tourists, with it increasing 14% year-on-year.

The number of Chinese tourist arrivals increased dramatically after 2013. Chinese tourist arrivals grew by a remarkable 72.5% in 2010-2016. The growing trade and investment relations between China and Sri Lanka created ample opportunities for the expansion of tourist arrivals from China. In January alone, Sri Lanka received 22,363 Chinese tourists. In 2019, Sri Lanka received 217,477 tourists from North East Asia and 68,904 from South East Asia.

Meanwhile, 92% of tourists travelled by air, while the total arrivals by sea/ships for the month of February 2020 was 16,367.