Tourist arrivals show strong recovery amid visa-related challenges: Analysis

• Highlights first quarter growth rate moderated since mid-2024 due to issues related to visa processing
• First 13 days of October welcome 55,353 tourists signalling positive momentum; but to match total figures seen in October 2018, country needs to double its arrivals for remainder of the month
• Claims original arrivals target of 2.3 m revised downward to 2 m amid delays in visa processing over past few months
• Cautions upcoming elections could potentially dampen November arrivals to certain extent as well

Tourism industry has shown signs of recovery in 2024, with arrivals significantly outpacing 2023 levels, especially in the first quarter of the year,an analysis by Softlogic Stockbrokers pointed out. 

It added that in January and February where arrivals have more than doubled, reflecting an increase of 103% year-on-year (YoY) in both months.

However, it pointed out that this growth rate moderated since mid-2024 due to issues related to visa processing, which have impacted the pace of arrivals.

According to Softlogic Stockbrokers, between 1 and 13 October, Sri Lanka welcomed 55,353 tourists, signalling positive momentum. However, to match the total figures seen in October 2018, the country would need to double its arrivals to over 100,000 for the remainder of the month. 

“This underscores the gap in reaching pre-crisis levels, as Sri Lanka’s tourism industry continues to rebound from the dual impacts of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic,” the analysis pointed out.

It also underscored that India remains the largest source market for tourist arrivals, contributing significantly to overall numbers. Sri Lanka initially set a target of 2.3 million tourist arrivals for 2024, but visa processing delays over the past few months prompted a downward revision to 2 million, a cut of 11.6%.Against this context, Softlogic Stockbrokers cautioned that the upcoming elections could potentially dampen November arrivals to a certain extent as well.