Tourist arrivals record single digit growth for fourth straight month in March

Tourist arrivals grew moderately at 4.7 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) in March to 244,328 visitors amidst a notable decline in arrivals from Northern and Western European countries despite the double digit growth in arrivals recorded from the Russian Federation, United States, Australia and China, data released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.
During the month, the largest source market for tourists was India, followed by the United Kingdom and China.

Among the top ten source markets, arrivals from the Russian Federation grew at the fastest pace of 39.8 percent YoY to 12,448 in the month followed by United States and Australia which recorded growth rates of 29.3 percent YoY and 28.1 percent YoY respectively. 

However, tourist arrivals from Western Europe to Sri Lanka declined by 15.5 percent YoY with arrivals from Germany  and France stagnating by 25 percent YoY to 18,134 and 5.8 percent YoY to 13,957 respectively. 

The visitors from United Kingdom also declined by 2.3 percent YoY to 30,366 in March. 

Tourist arrivals from Sri Lanka’s top two source markets in 2018: India and China grew modestly at 13.8 percent YoY and 12.6 percent YoY during 
the month. 

The growth in tourist arrivals averaged to 4.6 percent in the first quarter with 740,600 foreigners travelling to the island nation. Tourist arrivals to the Island nation have been growing at single digits since last December.   

Speaking to Mirror Business, Jetwing Hotels and Jetwing Travels Chairperson Shiromal Cooray emphasised that it would be difficult for Sri Lanka to achieve double digit growth in arrivals going forward without having a tourism marketing campaign in place.

She noted that Sri Lanka’s tourism industry performed well in the first quarter under such circumstances. 

Cooray pointed out that Sri Lanka was able to achieve double digit growth in the past couple of years as arrivals grew from a low base following the end of the war in 2009. Hence, she noted that the implementation of the global promotional campaign would be crucial for Sri Lanka to reach its arrival target this year. 

Sri Lanka repeatedly failed to meet the 2.5 million tourist arrivals target set in 2016. The country achieved 2.3 million arrivals last year, falling short of the target. 
For this year, the government has set an ambitious target of 3 million arrivals with over 30 percent YoY growth. 

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau is expecting to finally launch the three year long-delayed global promotional campaign in eight key source markets this June.
Furthermore, the government is also planning to issue free visas to 39 countries in the off peak period (May-October) with the aim of boosting arrivals by 20 percent during 
the period.