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Money-strapped Sri Lanka has stopped its profitable flights to Moscow as insurance coverage charges turned prohibitive after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the nation’s nationwide airline introduced Monday.
Each Russia and Ukraine had been among the many prime three tourism-generating markets for Sri Lanka, a nation grappling with its worst financial disaster since independence from Britain in 1948.
Sri Lankan Airways operated three flights per week to the Russian capital till combating broke out final month and had decreased the frequency to 2.
Additionally learn | Two main Sri Lankan newspapers droop print editions as financial disaster surges
The airline mentioned it was compelled to tug the as soon as extremely worthwhile Moscow flights because of the steep working prices after conflict broke out and difficulties in repatriating income from Russia.
The South Asian nation had banked on vacationers from the 2 warring nations to earn much-needed overseas alternate to finance the import of meals, gasoline and medicines.
The airline mentioned its pullout was on account of “operational restrictions which might be exterior of the airline’s management” and promised to refund these with flight bookings.
Out of the 82,300 overseas vacationers who visited Sri Lanka in January about 13,500 or 16.4 per cent had been Russians, adopted by 11,750 Indians and seven,770 Ukrainians.
The collapse of the leisure sector quickly after the pandemic broke out in 2020 noticed Sri Lanka lose greater than 4 billion {dollars} in misplaced tourism income.
Additionally learn | No ‘vital achievements’ thus far in Russia-Ukraine talks: Kremlin
The nation’s finest yr for tourism was 2018 when it earned $4.38 billion from tourism and welcomed 2.3 million guests.
Sri Lanka is at present within the grip of extreme shortages of meals and gasoline as business banks have run out of {dollars} to finance important imports.
Colombo has mentioned it’ll search an IMF bailout because the nation’s overseas foreign money reserves had hit $2 billion on the finish of February, in comparison with $7.5 billion two years in the past.
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