Tourist arrivals cross 700,000 mark in 14 weeks

• In 2023, milestone was reached in July
• April 01-15 tourist arrivals total 82,531
• Improved momentum needed to reach 2018 arrival numbers

Sri Lanka crossed the 700,000 tourist arrival milestone within the first 14 weeks of the year, almost half the time frame taken to reach the mark in 2023.

The provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed that from January 01 to April 15, the island nation welcomed a total of 718,315 international visitors.

For the first 15 days of April, Sri Lanka saw a total of 82,531 tourists enter the country, which affirms the island nation is maintaining the growth momentum.

The daily arrival average improved to around 5,502 in the month, from below 3000 arrivals a year ago. 

Sri Lanka is targeting between 168,539 and 182,724 tourist arrivals for April, which requires a daily average between 5,617 and 6,090, to achieve this target. 

The current arrival momentum shows that Sri Lanka may reach the lower bound of the arrival target for the month.

However, the country is on the course to overperform 105,498 arrivals recorded in April last year, if the current arrival trend persists. For the island nation to reach April 2018 tourist arrivals, an improved momentum is required.

India topped the list as the largest tourist traffic generator, accounting for 17 percent of the total arrivals recorded for April so far.

The United Kingdom ranks as the second largest tourist traffic generator, contributing to 11 percent of the tourist arrivals.  

With the recent update to travel advisory on Sri Lanka by the UK authorities, Sri Lanka expects a higher number of tourist arrivals from that market.

Russia was the close third, bringing in 10 percent of the total number of international visitors.

Germany, France, Australia and China occupied the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh positions in the rankings. (NF)