For the first time in the history of Sri Lankan tourism, visitors from China have outstripped those from India. In February, 32,186 Chinese had come to Sri Lanka while those who came from India numbered 26,559, according to official figures.

Till January this year, Indians were leading. In January, there were 28,895 arrivals from India as against 26,083 from China. In December 2015, 35,435 Indians came to Sri Lanka as against 15,843 from China. In 2015 as a whole, 316,247 Indians had arrived as against 214,783 Chinese.

Chinese arrivals have boomed from a mere 8,500 in 2009 to outstrip Indian arrivals now. This despite the fact that the number of direct flights between Lanka and India is much more than between Colombo and destinations in China. There are now 105 flights a week between Colombo and Indian destinations.

A key factor contributing to big leaps in Chinese arrivals was the heavy involvement of Chinese companies in the massive infrastructure development programs launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa between 2010 and 2014. The projects brought labor from China.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Lankan tourist trade is expecting arrivals from China to increase five fold in the next few years. Hotels have begun catering to the Chinese with restaurants serving authentic Chinese food.

Chinese visitors seem undeterred by the downturn in Sino-Lanka relations since the pro-China regime of President Rajapaksa was replaced by a pro-West one led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in January 2015. The new government halted multi-million dollar Chinese funded and executed projects  pending investigations into the contracts.

But the Lankan government is now mending its fences with China because it needs Chinese money to continue the infrastructure projects. Top Lankan leaders have visited China, the latest being Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s closest confidantes, Malik Samarawickrema and Sagala Ratnayake. Wickremesinghe is himself due to visit China shortly.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga has told Xinhua that Sri Lanka wants more flights between Colombo and destinations in China, to be able to bring more visitors to the island nation which has set for itself ambitious targets in the field of tourism.

Source: The New Indian Express

-Agencies