First 16 days of April draw over 56,000 tourists

• Cumulative arrivals nears 400,000 mark
• India remains top source market followed by Russia, UK, Germany and Australia

Sri Lanka has welcomed over 56,000 tourists during the first 16 days of the month, propelling the impetus to reach the monthly target of 86,000 arrivals.

With arrivals trend continues to maintain the upward momentum despite the peak season coming to an end, analysts expect the monthly figure will grow surpassing 100,000 arrivals.

The country received 56,402 tourists during the first 16 days of the month, comprising 26,912 during the first week, 24,362 in the second week and 5,128 in the balance two days.

The first nine-day arrivals have also pushed the cumulative figure to date to 392,081, propelling the impetus to continue in the year 2023. After regaining its place as the top source market in the first week of April, India continues to grow reflecting 17% or 9,554, followed by Russia with 14% or 8,138, the United Kingdom with 9% or 5,185, Germany with 9% or 5,056 and Australia with 6% or 3,487.

In addition, tourists were also received from US, France, China, Canada and Israel, the provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed.

Russia remains strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with a cumulative number of arrivals at 84,575 or 23% followed by India with 52,321 or 14% UK with 31,549 or 9% Germany with 28,735 or 8% and France with 18,029 or 5%.

Tourism accounts for close to 5% of Sri Lanka’s economy. The industry is hopeful of achieving its upwardly revised target of two million visitors and an income of over $ 3 billion in 2023.

Sri Lanka recorded the highest post-COVID arrivals figure of 125,495 in March, continuing the growth momentum of over 100,000 tourist arrivals in three consecutive months after 2019.

In the first quarter of 2023, tourism earnings were at $ 529.8 million, reflecting a 9.8% increase from the corresponding period of last year, whilst March earnings stood at $ 198.1 million, the latest Central Bank data released showed.

At present, Sri Lanka Tourism is conducting a multi city roadshow in China and will launch another set targeting South India next week.