Sri Lanka fails to cross 900,000 milestone in tourist arrivals end May

A group of tourists viewing paintings displayed by local artists down Greenpath in Colombo - Pic by Kushan Pathiraja

By Nishel Fernando 

Sri Lanka failed to cross the 900,000 milestone in tourist arrivals in the five month period ended in May, as the country trailed the arrival target by 13 percent or 133,983 arrivals at the end of the month. 

In May, tourist arrivals to island nation jumped by 34 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) to 112,128 tourists.  However, Sri Lanka missed the target set by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) for the month by 14.4 percent or 18,984 arrivals in the month.

Accordingly, the country failed to cross the 900,000 arrival milestone as predicted by the authorities. In the five-month period, Sri Lanka welcomed 896,779 tourists falling behind the target of 1.03 million tourists in the period. 

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Priantha Fernando earlier expressed confidence on crossing 900,000 tourist arrivals at end of May. 

In May, daily average tourist arrivals plummeted to 3617 when compared to 4967 arrivals in the previous month as the off-season kicked in. 

India accounted for 28.8 percent of the tourist arrivals in the month as United Kingdom and Maldives clinched second and third spots with a 7.2 percent share in arrivals each. China and Germany were the fourth and fifth largest source markets in the month accounting for 6.7 percent arrivals in the month each.

Russia fell to seventh spot after occupying top three spots consecutively in recent months which is likely due to loss of charter flights from Russia this summer due to higher prices stemming from increased hotel charges and higher landing charges at Mattala International Airport. However, the Cabinet of Ministers recently decided to award a joint venture consisting of Indian and Russian firms to manage the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.

So far during the year, Sri Lanka failed to meet the tourist arrivals target set by SLTDA. From January to May period, Sri Lanka missed the tourist arrival targets by 13.9 percent, 8.4 percent, 11.4 percent, 18.5 percent and 14.4 percent respectively. However, the SLTDA so far hasn’t shared any intentions to revise the arrival target for the year and remains confident of crossing 2.3 million arrivals for the year.

SLTDA Chief Fernando recently urged the government to grant the proposed visa-free travel policy for 67 countries in order to meet mid to long term tourism ambitions. Meanwhile, Thailand most recently became the latest country in  expanding  visa free travel  to woo tourists. Thailand now allows visa free travel from 93 countries, including Sri Lanka.