Sri Lanka records over 70% fall in tourism in March amid COVID-19 crisis

Sri Lanka, a major tourist attraction in the Asia-Pacific registered a major decline in the number of people visiting the nation due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to international media reports, the country witnessed over 70 per cent decline as compared to the same period last year. Currently, the country is under curfew which was reimposed after a number of coronavirus infections surged in the nation.

The Sri Lankan government, in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus infection, stopped all passenger flights and ships entering the nation on March 18. Till then, 71,370 tourists had already visited the island nation, Sri Lankan media reported quoting Sir Lanka Tourist Development Authority’s Tourist Arrival reports, for March 2020. However, in comparison, the country had received 2,44,328 tourists in 2019.

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The Monthly data also revealed that Indian nationals made up the majority of the tourists, followed by Russians, British, Germans and French. Tourists from Asia Pacific.accounted for 34 per cent of the total tourist footfall followed by North and South America at 4.6 per cent, Middle Est art 0.9 per cent and Africa at 0.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Europe made up 60 per cent of the visit.

Tourists from Kazakhstan increased 

The report states that there was a dramatic decline in tourists from all these regions, Surprisingly, tourist arrival from Kazakhstan recorded an increase of 79.7 per cent. Meanwhile, despite the pandemic, China still made up to the top ten nations for tourist arrivals. In addition, tourist arrivals from the Middle East reportedly fell by 85.7 per cent, from the Americas by 83.4 per cent, Africa recorded a decline of 77.9 per cent, international media reported. The Asia-Pacific region registered a fall of 75.4 per cent and Europe a fall of 64.3 per cent, international media reported. 

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(Image credits: Twitter/ imWazNotWas)