October tourism earnings at US $ 186mn

Sri Lanka recorded US $ 185.6 million from the tourism trade in October 2024, up from both a month ago and a year ago levels. 

This was supported by strong arrivals, which appears to have been less impacted by the travel advisories that were issued by some countries, led by the United States, over the potential attack targeting the Israelis in the Eastern coast tourism hotspot Arugam Bay.

In October, Sri Lanka attracted 135,907 visitors, which was up from 109,199 in the same month a year ago and 122,140 arrivals in September 2024. The October arrivals brought the cumulative arrivals to 1,620,715. The country targets 2.3 million arrivals in 2024 and expects to earn between US $ 3.0 billion and US $ 3.5 billion in earnings. In the first five days in November, Sri Lanka saw robust arrivals of 30,620 visitors, setting off to a stronger winter arrival season.  

In September, Sri Lanka earned US $ 181.0 million from the trade while in October last year, the earnings were US $ 136.7 million.  

The October inflows brought the cumulative 10-month earnings to US $ 2,533.7 million, up 59.0 percent from the same period in 2023.

Sri Lanka banks on tourism among other sectors to rebuild a stronger external sector for the economy, which is showing gains, since both the remittances and tourism earnings returned to normality. The industry stakeholders expect a strong destination promotion campaign launched by the authorities, to further create the appeal and attract more visitors to Sri Lanka, which has a lot more potential as a destination.

Since coming into power, the new government has restored the old visa system, adhering to a court order issued about two months ago, which could make the system easy for those who want to travel to Sri Lanka.

The new system, which was implemented this April, has caused a lot of challenges for those obtaining visas and has also cost nearly doubled the amount before, sparking concerns about the tourism industry, which brings crucial dollar incomes for the country to import fuel, medicine and food.