Tourist arrivals in first nine weeks of 2022 surpass total arrivals in 2021

• Week 1 of March brings over 25,000 tourists
• Total tourist arrival for the year thus far crosses 200,000 mark

Sri Lanka welcomed over 25,000 tourists in the first week of March, bringing the total number of arrivals to cross the 200,000 mark.

Within the first nine weeks of the year, tourist arrivals to the country have surpassed the total number of arrivals for the whole of 2021. For the January to December period 194,495 visitors entered the country.

With 25,511 tourist arrivals from March 1 to 7, a total of 204,345 international travellers have visited Sri Lanka, provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.

The daily arrival average for the first week of March is 3,644.

An analysis of cumulative figures for the 1 January to 7 March period shows Russia continuing to lead as the largest source market for Sri Lanka. The Russian federation accounted for 15.8 percent of the total arrivals.

Ranking second is India, contributing to 14.4 percent of the total tourist traffic, and the UK ranks third, contributing to 10.1 percent of the total arrivals.

The specific contribution by each source market for the first week of March was not captured by SLTDA’s latest update. (Shabiya Ali Ahlam)