First tourist flight since March lands at Mattala

Ukrainian Airlines SkyUp from Kiev landing at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala yesterday.

The first group of tourists since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the country yesterday. Ukrainian Airlines SkyUp from Kiev landed at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala, carrying 186 tourists. Among them are 20 children. They will stay here for 10 to 14 days.

Tourism Ministry sources said that 12 flights were scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka between 28 Dec. and 24 Jan.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Rantunga, State Minister of Airports D.V. Chanaka and Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Maj.Gen.(retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri were among those who were at the airport to welcome the tourists. Sri Lanka was closed to foreign tourists after the first outbreak in March 2020.

The government later decided to reopen the country for tourists with effect from yesterday with a pilot project to ascertain the number of flights and passengers’ Sri Lanka could handle in the midst of the pandemic.

Russia, which was set to send the first group of tourists to Sri Lanka, suspended the flight, delaying it until Dec 31.

A Tourism Ministry official said the government expected the arrival of Ukrainian tourists to help boost the ailing tourism industry here.