SL welcomes over 45,000 tourists in first week of Jan.

Tourists are seen posing for a picture at the nine-arch bridge located between Ella and Demodara  - Pic by Nisal Baduge

Sri Lanka tourism kicked off year 2024 with an impressive start with over 45,000 international visitors entering the island nation in the first week of January.

Provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that from 1 to 7 January, Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 45,303 tourists.

When compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, tourist arrivals have expanded by 117 percent. In the first week January 2023, the island nation saw 20,875 international visitors enter the country.
Accordingly, the daily arrival average is currently 6, 471. In the same period in 2023, the daily arrival average was about 2, 982.

Meanwhile, as seen in the last month of December 2023, a change is seen in the contribution from key source markets.
For the year 2024 so far, the Russian Federation ranks as the largest tourist traffic generator. It accounted for 18 percent (8,208) of the total tourist arrivals.

India, which was Sri Lanka’s largest source market for tourism in 2023, now ranks second place, contributing to 15 percent (6,780) of the total tourist arrivals. Ranking third is Germany, which accounts for 8 percent (3,504) of the tourist arrivals. Other key markets include the United Kingdom, China, Australia, and France.