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Maskless tourists worry PHIs 

20 Oct 2021

BY Dinitha Rathnayake  Sri Lanka will face a risky situation during the coming week owing to visiting foreigners’ attitudes towards following the Covid-19 pandemic preventive health guidelines, according to the Public Health Inspectors’ Union of Sri Lanka (PHIUSL).  Speaking to The Morning, PHIUSL Secretary Mahendra Balasooriya said that the ground-level reality is different from what the health officers think it to be.  “We have received several complaints related to tourists about most of them not wearing masks at the moment.” Balasooriya added that complaints received from Galle and Unawatuna, especially, highlight the need to follow the health guidelines. “It is not an issue with the locals, as they wear the mask, but tourists don’t. We might therefore have to face certain consequences in the future.”  A total of 7,096 tourists had arrived in Sri Lanka from 1 to 13 October according to official figures released this week and Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has said that October is likely to record the highest monthly arrivals for this year.  The Tourism Ministry said that so far this year, September saw the highest tourist arrivals of 13,547. Up to 13 October, a total of 45,413 tourists have arrived in the country since the reopening of borders on 21 January, according to the Ministry.  The majority of tourists who have arrived in Sri Lanka so far this year are from India, Kazakhstan, Germany, Ukraine, the US, China, Canada, Britain, France, and Russia.


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