Sri Lanka's tourism industry is bracing for a hit from the impact of coronavirus with a downturn in arrivals.

Officials have begun meeting flights from China, amid spreading global concern about the virus which has spread to a number of countries around the world, including Sri Lanka.

Authorities in China have already begun placing restrictions in an effort to contain the virus, including suspending all tour groups and the sale of flight and hotel packages for its citizens headed overseas.

Coming amid the Chinese New Year, the most significant holiday for travel, tourism officials are already warning of a "significant impact" on the industry and the economy.

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.

Hence, the impact of a sharp drop in Chinese visitors could be significant for tourist operators. The countries in the region that have large tourism sectors and would, therefore, have a relatively larger impact include Thailand, Australia, and Vietnam.

In Thailand, for example, tourism exports are about 11% of GDP. Tourists from China also represent a large proportion of arrivals for these economies, particularly for Thailand and Vietnam, where more than 25% of arrivals are from China.