A group of tourists visiting the Gangaramaya Temple, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Colombo
- Pic by Pradeep Pathirana 

• Daily arrival average around 6,091
• 62% of the conservative scenario target realised so far
• India, UK, and China rank as top three tourist traffic generators for SL

The month of July continues to witness an increased momentum in tourist arrivals as the number of international visitors to the country for the first three weeks crossed the 127,000 mark.

For the 1 July to 27 July period, Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 127,925 tourists, bringing the cumulative total to 1.138 million.

As per the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) forecast, in the best case scenario, or the optimistic scenario, Sri Lanka hopes to lure 220,599 international visitors. In the worst case scenario, the authority hopes to attract at least 203,474 visitors.

The daily arrival average needed to achieve the minimum target is about 7,555. The daily arrival average for the month so far is 6,091. 

To realise the optimistic case scenario, the daily arrival average has to increase to 9,276 in the final 10 days. The latter is unlikely given that since the Covid pandemic, the daily arrival average has not reached such high levels.

The weekly arrival average is about 42,640.Accordingly, the island nation has realised 62 percent of the conservative scenario target set by the SLTDA.India continues to rank as the largest tourist traffic generator for the island nation. For the first three weeks of July, neighbouring India accounted for 23.8 percent of the total arrival, which is 30,422 tourists.

The United Kingdom ranks second accounting for 10.3 percent of the total tourist arrivals (13,162). 

China has moved up the list and now ranks as the third largest source market for Sri Lanka tourism accounting for 6.5 percent of the total arrivals (8,351).While this is an improvement, Sri Lanka can do more to attract tourists from that region.SLTDA Chairman Priantha Fernando acknowledged the country needs to step up efforts in increasing tourists arrivals as competing nations are rolling out key strategies, with focus on the cost factor.The Chinese market has picked up over the last 2 months. It was a slow start but it is picking up.

“However, we are very conscious since countries such as Thailand has free visa policies and is attracting more Chinese tourists. So, we have to be on a level-playing field to attract more Chinese tourists. But we are quite confident we will be able to develop the market,” Fernando told Mirror Business.