SL to cross 700,000 tourist arrival milestone today

• Improved pace in tourist arrivals seen in July
• Daily arrival average significantly improves to 4,300 level
• India leads as key source market for year so far
• Russia and UK follow closely behind
• China expected to move higher up on list faster in coming months

As tourism activity is picking up after several challenges faced since 2019, Sri Lanka is witnessing an improved pace of tourist arrivals, and it is very likely to cross the 700,000 mark today.
The provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed that as of July 16, the island nation has lured a total of 694,908 international travellers for the year so far. The analysis shows that the 700,000 milestone will be crossed today (July 18), with over 703,000 tourists.

The month of July is witnessing an improved momentum in tourist arrivals, as the data shows the daily arrival average is about 4,377 so far. This is a significant improvement compared to June, which recorded a daily arrival average of about 3,300 and May drew approximately 2,800 international tourists to the country per day.

Taking the lead as the largest tourism source market for the first seven and a half months is India. The neighbouring giant, which has shown keen interest and support in helping Sri Lanka’s crisis-struck industry revive, accounted for about 19 percent of the total tourist arrivals.

The contribution is expected to increase further in the coming months as efforts are underway to further entice the Indian traveller by improving the infrastructure and facilities in Sri Lanka. One such attempt is enabling financial transactions in the island nation in Indian rupees.

The second largest tourist traffic generator for 2023 as of now is the Russian Federation. While it accounts for about 17 percent of the total tourist arrivals to the island nation, it is likely to slip from its current position in the coming months, mainly because faster growth is seen from other markets. However, yesterday, Sri Lanka welcomed the 100,000th tourist from Russia at Bandaranaike International Airport.

In the third place is the UK, bringing in 8 percent of the total tourist arrivals for the year. Following closely are Germany, France and Australia. A key source market that is sprinting its way to the top is China.

While for the first seven and a half months, the country ranks as the ninth biggest tourist traffic generator for Sri Lanka, on a monthly basis, it now ranks among the top three sources for the island nation.

Meanwhile, as of July 16, the island nation drew 70,034 international travellers for the month.