SRI Lanka enjoyed an unprecedented wave of tourist arrivals from China last month, with figures surging by 224 per cent year-on-year.
Arrivals for the month of January stood at 10,779, up from 3,328 in the same month last year, making China the largest inbound market after India and the UK.
Shafraz Fazley, managing director of Viluxor Holidays, said the flow was mainly due to the Lunar New Year holidays. “We had 60 groups totalling over 1,000 visitors who visited between January 25 and February 7,” he told TTG Asia e-Daily.
Sri Lanka has been stepping up marketing and promotion efforts in China with television campaigns and fam trips for Chinese travel consultants and media. Sri Lanka Tourism officials say China, currently the fifth largest inbound market, is likely to edge out Germany for third place this year.
Fazley, whose company handles the largest number of Chinese tourists in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives, said that while many Chinese travel consultants who visit on fam trips are impressed by Sri Lanka’s tourism offerings, a shortage of Mandarin-speaking guides and translators is deterring growth.
“We could have tripled arrivals during the Chinese New Year if not for the shortage of Chinese-speaking staff. We had to fly down 10 of our staff from the China office to handle the situation here. Sri Lanka needs to (address this language issue) if we are to increase the number of Chinese tourists,” he said.
