The tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka crossed 91,000 in the first two weeks of August, bringing the year-to-date arrivals closer to 1.3 million.

The provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed that from August 01 to 14, the island nation welcomed a total of 91,634 international visitors.

The weekly arrival average stands at about 45,000, while the daily arrival average increased to 6,500, from 6,200 the previous month. India remains as the largest tourism traffic generator for Sri Lanka. 

In August so far, the neighbouring giant has accounted for 17.9 percent of the total tourist arrivals.Ranking third is the United Kingdom, which contributed to 11.7 percent of the arrivals.

In the third place is China, which accounted for 7.5 percent of the total arrivals.The other key markets include Italy, France, Germany and Spain.

While the tourist arrivals for August have improved due to the summer, the industry stakeholders expressed they are still worried regarding the visa issuance not yet being sorted.

Following the Supreme Court’s suspension of the VFS Global-led visa issuing system, Sri Lanka is yet to establish an avenue. Currently, the island nation is offering visas on arrival.