With 44,977 visitors registered in the first 11 days of September, the total arrivals for the year so far reached over 1.4 million. The first week of the month saw 29,239 arrivals, followed by an additional 15,738 tourists from 8-11 September.
Despite this milestone, the tourism is facing challenges, with experts warning of a significant drop in arrivals and bookings due to ongoing confusion over the visa issues. The industry is grappling with a visa crisis causing concern among stakeholders about the country’s ability to attract winter holiday travellers.
During an exclusive interview with the Daily FT on Wednesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressed the issue, stating that the free-visa initiative, which was approved by the Cabinet earlier this month, will only be implemented after Parliament gives its approval on 8 October.
Tourism…
In response, the tourism industry pointed out that September is the key booking period for winter tourism, particularly for visitors from Western countries, claiming that prolonged visa delays and uncertainties could lead to widespread cancellations, further undermining the sector’s recovery.
India, the UK and Germany have emerged as the top source markets for tourism in September so far, whilst the year-to-date (YTD) data shows India leading the pack with 267,489 tourists accounting for 19% of the total arrivals in 2024 thus far. The UK follows with 131,518 tourists, while Russia has contributed 124,434 visitors so far this year.
For September, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) is targeting 150,983 tourists. However, the monthly targets were not achieved during the last eight months.
The frustrated tourism industry champions remained concerned despite the positive numbers, citing that this would have been achieved last month, had the authorities reinstated the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system as per the Court order.
Many are of the view that Sri Lanka will likely miss its 2024 target of 2.3 million arrivals, asserting that some international airlines have expressed hesitation in boarding passengers bound for Sri Lanka due to uncertainties about visa approval upon arrival.
Industry experts have highlighted that if visa challenges are not resolved soon, even the recently launched promotional campaign – Sri Lanka’s first in 16 years could fail to deliver the desired results.
However, they believe that a focused effort on facilitating Russian operations and improving visa conditions could still help salvage the season.
They stressed that without addressing the underlying issues, the promotional efforts may not yield significant returns.
