Tourist arrivals top half-a-million mark

Chinese tourists outside the Gangaramaya in Colombo 

• First 15 days of March welcome over 95,000 visitors pushing YTD figure to over 524,000
• Daily average arrivals dip from 7,689 in February to 6,515 

In a remarkable feat for Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, arrivals surpassed the half-a-million sparking optimism about meeting the ambitious target of 2.3 million visitors by the end of the year.

“Sri Lanka could achieve the set target for 2024 or more, whilst earning over $ 4 billion by year-end,” Tourism Minister Harin Fernando told the Daily FT, recalling that in 2023 the country surpassed the 500,000 mark only in May and in 2022 in September.

However, to reach the ambitious target of 2.3 million arrivals by the end of 2024, the industry will need to crank out its best performance, as another 77% must be achieved over the nine months.

The Minister said that is evident that the industry has capitalised on the strong resurgence of 2023 performance to leapfrog this year in terms of numbers and earnings. “The industry stakeholders deserve credit for making a favourable impact within a brief span of time since May 2022. Efforts and campaigns are continuing to attract as many tourists during the off season,” he added.

Minster Fernando affirmed over 95,000 visitors had arrived in the country as of yesterday (15), pushing the cumulative figure to over 524,000.

As per the provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, during the first 14 days of March 91,205 visitors have arrived in the country, with 145,145 or 61% of arrivals required to achieve the monthly target of 236,350. 

Russia (13,699), India (13,492), Germany (8,547), the UK (7,245) and France (5,851) emerged as the top markets so far in March. The data also showed that the daily average arrivals have plunged from 7,689 in February to 6,515 compared to the same period in March, indicating the end of the winter season. In January the daily average arrivals stood at 6,717.

India (77,918) and Russia (76,888) remains top tourist source markets year-to-date (YTD) reflecting 15% of total arrivals, followed by the UK (44,524), Germany (38,399) and China (31,854) respectively.

The industry analysts said they anticipate the arrival numbers to be consistent even after the peak season by the end of the month, with targeted promotions in markets coupled with enhanced connectivity.

With Sri Lanka Tourism all set to conduct its first-ever multi-city roadshow in Australia next week, the industry is poised to receive travellers during the shoulder period. The roadshow will kick off on 19 March in Brisbane, followed by Sydney on 21 March and conclude in Melbourne on 25 March. Over 30 travel and tourism firms have confirmed participation to engage with B2B dialogues.

The tourism earnings during the first two months have registered $ 687.5 million in tandem with the boost in arrivals.

Tourism earnings in February were at $ 345.7 million, reflecting a 118.2% increase from the corresponding period of last year, the latest Central Bank data released yesterday showed. Even on a month-on-month comparison, February earnings are 1.14% higher than January 2024. It is the highest earnings registered since 2020.

The industry expressed optimism about early indications of a significant performance, whilst asserting that it was imperative to maintain the current momentum to achieve the set targets by the year end.