In the wake of ever increasing Russian tourist inflow, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Moscow has initiated a banking cooperation between People’s Bank in Sri Lanka and National Investment Industrial Bank in Russia (NIIB).
Accordingly measures will be taken to devise a platform for Russian tourists to make payments seamlessly in rupees with effect from 22 November.
Under this banking collaboration, Russian tourists will be able to remit funds to People’s Bank in Sri Lanka prior to their visits, in liaison with the National Investment Industrial Bank in Russia without having any intermediate banks involved.
Upon arrival in Sri Lanka, tourists will be issued Debit Cards (Visa/Master) which could be used to make payments in Sri Lanka.
Arrangements are also in place for Russian tourists to use these bank cards in other countries where Visa/Master cards are accepted.
This payment platform will be extremely beneficial to the Russian tourists to effect payments outside the territory of the Russian Federation flawlessly.
A considerable amount of foreign exchange is expected to flow into Sri Lanka through the proper financial channel with this project.
It will contribute to enhance the foreign exchange position of the country while boosting the attractiveness of Sri Lanka as one of the best and emerging tourism destinations for Russian tourists.
Russian tourists have dominated October arrivals revival, enabling Sri Lanka to bounce back by 41% to 42,026 from the lowest 29,802 in September and surpassing the 550,000 mark in the first 10 months.
The increase in arrivals was largely influenced by the resumption of Russian flag carrier – Aeroflot as well as the successful series of roadshows conducted in select cities of India last month.
Russia also emerged as the second biggest source market in October after India and relegated the UK to number three.
Arrivals in the first 10 months amounted to 568,258 (as against 22,771 in COVID-hit 2021) – a welcome development for the triple-hit tourism industry, but performance is still down by 73% compared to the same period in pre-COVID 2018.
In October, India topped the tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 8,862 tourists reflecting 21% of the total arrivals, followed by Russia with 6,189 tourists (15%), the UK with 4,275 (10%), Germany with 2,881 (7%), and Australia with 2,106 (5%).
Tourism Minister Harin Fernando is hopeful of achieving 800,000 visitors and income of over $ 1.7 billion from the sector by the year-end, noting that the international rankings, resumption of more international airlines from this month as well as the promotions augur well to boost arrivals this winter season.
