Tourism earnings top US$ 1.5bn in 2024 first half

• Cumulative earnings for January to June 2024 up 77% YoY
• June tourism earnings record US$ 151.1 mn, up 23% YoY

Tourism achieved a significant milestone with earnings surpassing the US$ 1.5 billion mark in the first six months of the year, reflecting improved performance.
The fast reviving sector recorded earning of US$ 1.56 billion for the January - June period, a 77 percent increase Year-on-Year (YoY).

In June, despite a slowdown in arrivals, the tourism sector fetched US$ 151.1 million. This is a 23 percent increase YoY when compared with the corresponding period in 2023. In June, 113,470 visited Sri Lanka, much lower than during the average monthly arrivals of around 200,000 arrivals per month in the first four months.

In May, Sri Lanka was able to generate only US$ 154.0 million out of 112,128 visitors.

However, with the summer season kicking in many of Sri Lanka’s major source markets, the country could see increasing numbers of people taking flights into Sri Lanka to experience the relatively mild weather it could offer along with its natural diversity and beauty.

With June arrivals, Sri Lanka crossed the million arrivals milestone with total arrivals of 1,010, 249 in the first half of the year.

Sri Lanka expect around 2.4 million arrivals by the end of the year with US$ 3.5 to 4.0 billion in total earnings.

Sri Lanka is coming out of the economic crisis as its major foreign currency earnings from tourism, remittances and other inflows recovered while the government continued to limit imports with the Central Bank crushing demand by raising rates too high as they read the inflation wrong.

Sri Lanka also suspended repayment of most foreign currency loans. The currency depreciation also made visiting Sri Lanka relatively cheap as visitors now have to spend less dollars than they did two years before.

The promotional campaigns by Sri Lanka Tourism are also ongoing luring visitors into the country.

Sri Lanka offers immense potential in tourism given what it could offer and could easily become a US$ 10 billion dollar industry in the next 5 years with right politics and policies.