Tourist arrivals until March 27 cross 95,000 mark

• India leads as largest source market
• Russia slips further down in top 10 market list

Sri Lanka is inches away from fulfilling the monthly tourist arrival target set by the Tourism Ministry, with the figures for March showing that over 95,000 visitors have entered the country for the month so far. 

The provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) yesterday showed that for the first four weeks of the month ending on March 27, a total of 95,377 tourists entered the country. 
The Tourism Ministry aims to lure at least 100,000 visitors into the country per month and 1.2 million visitors in total by the end of the year. 

From March 01 to 27, the average daily arrival rate was 3,532 tourists. If the arrival momentum is maintained, the 100,000 monthly target will be realised within the next two days. 

India remained as the largest source market, accounting for 20,965 arrivals. 
The United Kingdom emerged as the second largest tourist traffic generator for the month and Germany as the third largest.

The Russian Federation slipped further as a key source market for Sri Lanka tourism. In the fourth week of March, it fell to the fourth position from last week’s third. 

Other notable source markets include France, Poland, Kazakhstan, Australia, the United States and Canada.