Sri Lanka has welcomed 5,040 tourists in August 2021, up from zero a year earlier as the country manages the Coronavirus pandemic and tries to keep hard-hit tourist businesses alive.
August arrivals were the highest so far this year. Arrivals have crawled up from 1,497 in May to 1614 in June 2429 in July to 5,040 in August.
Sri Lanka has a protocol where tourists are tested.
Sri Lanka is also giving extended for ‘digital nomad’ visa tourists who can stay for several months working online in their home countries.
Canada became the top source country in August with 594, up from 178 in July, followed by Germany 515, UK 489, Pakistan 456 and India 405.
There were 311 visitors from the US, 248 from France and 247 from Russia.
Canada and the US are among countries that have high levels of Sri Lankan migrants.
Top officials said that after Sri Lanka started (August 24) allowing vaccinated tourists from India, they are seeing a rise in daily arrivals. Before per say tourist arrival was around 200 but now from India itself a similar number of tourists are coming in, he said.
Pre-COVID-19 Pandemic, India was Sri Lanka’s largest tourist source market.
