Tourist arrivals record significant dip in April

• Down almost 50% when compared with March
• Daily arrivals decline to 2,000 level, from 3,500-4,000 levels

Tourist arrivals for the first three weeks of April have declined significantly when compared to previous months, indicating that greater challenges are ahead for the tourism and hospitality sector.

For the April 01-26 period, a total of 55,590 tourists visited the country. The arrival numbers for the month are almost 50 percent less when compared with the tourist arrivals in March.
March saw a total of 106,500 international visitors enter the country, which has been the highest for the year so far. Figures shared by the Tourism Ministry for April showed that the daily arrival rate has dropped to 2,138. In the previous months around 3,500 to 4,000 arrived in the country daily.

The cumulative arrivals for the January 01 to April 26 period stood at to 340,924.
The United Kingdom has emerged as the largest source market for tourism, with 10,327 tourist arrivals. 

India has moved down to the second position with 7,900 arrivals. Germany ranks the third with 5,756 tourists arriving from that country.
Other notable markets include France, Australia, and Russia.