SL fulfils 39% of tourist arrival target set for September

Sri Lanka has welcomed over 46,000 tourists in the first two weeks of September, the provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed.

From September 01 to 12, the island nation lured a total of 46,308 international visitors. This brings the cumulative arrivals for the year up till September 12 to 950,626.

Sri Lanka hopes to welcome at least 120,201 tourists for the month of September. Accordingly, 39 percent of the target has been reached.  The daily arrival average stands at 3,859, whereas the weekly arrival average is of about 23,514. The breakdown of the weekly tourist arrivals shows a significant drop in the second week when compared with the first.  India and the United Kingdom retain their positions as the first and second largest tourist traffic generators for Sri Lanka, accounting for 26 percent (12,252) and 7 percent (3,419) of the total arrivals for the month.

Germany ranks in the third position, bringing in 7 percent (3,203) visitors and the Russian Federation moved up to the fourth position, accounting for 7 percent of the total arrivals (3,069).

China slipped from the third position from last month and moved to the sixth. China has contributed to 5 percent of the total arrivals for the month of September so far, bringing in 2,348 tourists.