Despite the COVID-19 related restrictions in 2021, 56,268 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka from India, which translates into about 29% of total arrivals, said Vinod K. Jacob, Deputy High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka.

Jacob was speaking at an event on ‘Ramayana Trails’ organized by Sri Lanka — India Society and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau at Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center in Colombo on March 10, 2022.

India established an air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka in April 2021.

India considers Sri Lanka a vital source market for tourism and is ready to welcome tourists again. “To encourage tourism, the Government of India had recently suspended the RT-PCR test requirement for travelers who are fully vaccinated and announced the resumption of international commercial flights from March 27, 2022,” he said.

Jacob said that 7,682 tourists from Sri Lanka had visited India in the last two months, while 196 had traveled for medical purposes.