Another group of post-pandemic Chinese tourists arrive in Sri Lanka
March 11, 2023 10:43 am
Another large group of post-pandemic Chinese tourists reached Sri Lanka last night (March 10) following the arrival of the first group earlier this month.
These 181 Chinese tourists are the first group to visit Sri Lanka from Shanghai following the Covid-19 pandemic situation that lasted nearly three years.
They arrived on a flight belonging to China Eastern Airlines that touched down at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake at around 6.51 p.m. last evening.
Upon arrival, the Chinese tourists were accorded a welcome by Foreign Affairs State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong and several other officials.
A group of 115 Chinese tourists from Guangzhou arrived on the island on March 01 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
On February 06, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the decision to allow travel agencies to resume booking groups to travel to 20 countries and regions.
Accordingly, the pilot program took effect on February 06 to allow travel agencies to open outbound group travel for Chinese citizens to 20 nations – Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba and Argentina.
