Tourism: Arrival figures show promising signs of recovery

As anticipated, the number of tourist arrivals have continued to surge since the second half of 2022 and in the first three months each month had over 100, 000 arrivals each month indicating a promising recovery for the industry.

According to First Capital Research they anticipate tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka to surpass the one billion mark this year with a target of 1.2 billion in arrivals and USD 1.9 billion in earnings.

The Sri Lankan tourism industry has been one of the first to gradually recover following consecutive blows from the 2019 Easter attack, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the worst economic crisis in decades.

As the Sri Lankan economic crisis eased to a certain level in August 2022, the majority of European countries, including Switzerland, France, UK, Sweden, and Norway, have relaxed their advisories on travel to Sri Lanka.

As a result, with the resumption of multiple airlines and cruise tourism, along with increased promotions, including MICE tourism, a promising year lies ahead for the tourism industry.

The total number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka grew consistently from 2H2022 amidst the easing down of the economic crisis with the immediate implementation of necessary measures by the government in order to obtain the IMF fund. This has boosted the travel confidence among the tourists.

“We expect the trend to persist until Mar 2023 considering the seasonality of tourists and expect the arrivals to stabilize in the upcoming months. (Tourists arrivals from 1st to 26th March – 105,714, accordingly, YTD arrivals surpassed 300,000 in 2023).

The resumption of Chinese outbound tourism will further boost arrivals.

China accounted for 11.4% of the total tourists to Sri Lanka in 2018 and remained the top source market next to India. Meanwhile, with China reopening outbound tourism, we anticipate a further boost to the tourist arrivals to SL starting from Apr 2023, and expect Sri Lankan Airlines to commence flights to Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou to and from Colombo thrice a week. Hence, we expect a similar number of Chinese arrivals in the short to medium term compared to pre pandemic level.

India, Russia, UK and other European countries remain the top source market in 2022 and in 1Q2023 amidst the increase in flight frequencies to Sri Lanka and the significant devaluation of LKR against USD which made accommodation and other expenses to become more affordable for international travelers.

Raid Amazones’ help create more awareness of Sri Lanka as an adventure travel hotspot in France and other European countries. This may draw the attention of adventure seekers towards Sri Lanka, encouraging them to visit.

Since Sri Lanka’s (SL) worst economic crisis in Mar 2022, the share prices of nearly 55% of the hotels listed in CSE have risen on a YoY basis.

Soource: http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2023/04/02/tourism-arrival-figures-show-promising-signs-recovery