COLOMBO, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka recorded 1,682 tourist arrivals in January, after receiving no tourists within the past nine months due to the closure of its international airports since March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported here Tuesday.
Officials from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), quoted in the local Daily FT said out of the total number of tourist arrivals for last month, 87 percent were Ukrainian tourists inspired by the government's pilot project and deployment of special flights.
Other tourist arrivals were from Belarus, China, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, India, the Maldives and the United States.
"The figures reflect the unprecedented health, social and economic crisis caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, international tourist arrivals plunged by 74 percent in 2020 over the previous year with the travel restrictions imposed by almost all the destinations since the month of April," officials from the SLTDA said.
The Sri Lankan government last month expressed confidence in attracting 1.5 million tourists this year with the re-opening of the airports from Jan. 23 while staying in line with COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. Enditem
