14 August 2023 12:01 am Views - 1762
By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Earnings from the tourism industry have crossed the US$ 1 billion mark with international visitors to Sri Lanka having spent US$ 219 million in July.
Provisional data from the Central Bank revealed that earnings from tourism for the first seven months of the year totalled US$. 1.094 billion, a 43.1 percent increase when compared with the corresponding period in 2022.
The earnings were generated through the arrival of 767,913 tourists in the country during the January to July period.
In 2022, the US$ 1 billion milestone was reached in November and tourism earnings for the entire year totalled US$ 1.136 billion.
In 2021, tourism sector fetched only US$ 633 million, and in 2020, the year of the pandemic, the industry managed a revenue of US$ 1.08 billion.
July 2023 also became the first month since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic to surpass the threshold of US$ 200 million in monthly earnings.
Over the last three years, the US$ 200 million monthly revenue was crossed only in January 2020 (US$ 307 million), and February (US$ 278.9 million).
In March 2020, the earnings dropped to US$ 95.5 million due to the closure of international borders across the world, restricting any form of foreign travel.
Sri Lanka aims to close 2023 with US$ 2.7 billion from tourism by drawing 1.5 million tourists.
By 2029, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has set its sights on attracting 5 million international visitors, out of which 2.5 million tourists projected to spend an estimated daily amount exceeding US$ 500.
Latest statistics from the SLTDA showed that from 1 January to 10 August, Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 819, 507 international visitors.
For the first 10 days of August, a total of 51, 594 tourists entered the country, with a daily arrival average of 5,159. The industry hopes to attract 149,015 tourists for the month of August.