Sri Lanka sees strong tourism surge in early April

Friday, 11 April 2025 04:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Welcomes 56,567 visitors in first nine days, reflecting 12% YoY increase
YTD arrivals up 13.5% YoY to 778,843
Daily arrivals pick up to 6,285 from 5,615 YoY, but decline on month-on-month basis
India, Russia, UK remain top three source markets

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry continues to build momentum in 2025, with over 56,000 arrivals in the first nine days of April alone—a 12% increase compared to the same period last year. As per the latest provisional data, a total of 56,567 tourists was registered during the first nine days of April, pushing the cumulative arrivals for the year to 778,843 and marking a robust 13.5% year-on-year (YoY) growth.

The daily average arrivals rate has also risen to 6,285 during the nine days of April, up from 5,615 in the same period last year.

Sri Lanka...

However, it marks a slight decline from 7,397 daily arrivals in March 2025.

Despite this, Sri Lanka Tourism remains optimistic of attracting over 250,000 tourists each month with the global campaign rollout expected post-Avurudu, to reach this year’s three million arrivals target.

The monthly target of April is 224,710 visitors. However, the first quarter of 2025 miserably failed to meet the monthly targets, but showed a notable YoY increase.

India continues to lead as the top source market, contributing 128,910 visitors year-to-date (YTD), followed by Russia with 99,731 tourists and the UK with 77,394 travellers. India also remains the largest contributor for April to date, with 10,595 Indian travellers visiting Sri Lanka. The UK emerged second pushing Russia to third position marking the end of winter season with 7,679 tourists and 6,163 arrivals respectively so far in April.

On Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Tourism Prof. Ruwan Ranasinghe remained confident of achieving Sri Lanka’s ambitious target of attracting three million arrivals and $ 5 billion in revenue this year, despite the potential economic ripple effects from the recent US tariff impositions.

In 2024, Sri Lanka welcomed 2.05 million visitors, generating over $ 3.2 billion in revenue—a 52.38% YoY increase.

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