50 000 Russian tourists visited Sri Lanka from January to August

Sri Lanka was visited by 50 000 Russian tourists for eight months of 2022. Russia's share in the total foreign tourist flow is 10% now, Chamila Jayaratna, adviser to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Russia, said.

"Despite the effects of the pandemic and the global economic crisis, Sri Lanka remains one of the most popular destinations for Russian tourists," he said at a press conference.

According to the diplomat, before the pandemic, Sri Lanka hosted 2,2 million foreign tourists a year, and budget revenues from the tourism industry amounted to $4,3 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the flow of tourists to Sri Lanka has been growing.

"From January to August, we already see about 500 thousand arrivals of foreign tourists to the island. Of these, 50 thousand are tourists from Russia. They accounted 10% of the tourist flow, which allows us to conclude that Russia is an important supplier of tourists for the island" Jayaratna added.

Aeroflot has been operating flights from Moscow to Colombo since October 9 twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays. Azur air is planning to launch a charter program to Sri Lanka on November 3. Tour operators Coral Travel, Anex Tour and Intourist plan to send tourists on these flights.