2023 records highest tourist arrivals since pandemic

• Year-end target missed by mere 4%
• SL welcomes 1.48mn tourists for whole of 2023
• December posts highest monthly arrival since pandemic but misses target by 13%

Sri Lanka saw tourist arrivals surge for the first time since the pandemic; however, the 2023 year-end target was missed narrowly by 4 percent.
The provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that for the full 12 months of 2023, the island nation welcomed a total of 1.487 million international visitors.
The SLTDA and Tourism Ministry were hopeful that Sri Lanka would end 2023 with 1.55 million international visitors. Initially, the tourist arrival target for the year was set as 1.5 million but was revised upwards as an uptick was seen in the arrival rate.

Data showed that Sri Lanka tourism also missed the monthly arrival target set for December 2023. While December recorded the highest monthly tourist arrivals for the year and also since the pandemic struck, here again, the target was missed.
The anticipated arrival number for December 2023 was 242,135. However, having welcomed 210,352 international visitors, the target was missed by about 13 percent.
Analysis of the monthly arrivals against the forecast shows that the set target was met only in four months of the year: February, March, April and May.

The daily arrival average for the month of December increased to 6,785, whereas the weekly arrival average increased to 52,588.
December also saw an increased influx of cruise liners, with a total of five entering the country. Similarly, the frequency of charter flights increased as well. India continues to retain its position as the largest source market for Sri Lanka tourism, bringing in 21 percent of the total tourism arrivals for the month so far. The Russian Federation, ranking second, accounted for 14 percent of the total arrivals, while the United Kingdom, the third largest tourist traffic generator, contributed to 9 percent of the total arrivals.
The cumulative data is yet to be released.