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Thursday, 9 February 2023 01:42 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in the first week of February crossed over 26,000, propelling the cumulative figure to 129,051 continuing the growth momentum.
As per provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority yesterday, it reflects a sharp growth of 27% to 27,506 tourists from first week January.
It is evident that the daily arrival average has improved by over 16% to 3,827 as against 3,308 in January, boosted by Russian travellers.
Russia leads as the top source market, reflecting 25% or 6,619 of total arrivals during the first week followed by India with 13% or 3,462, the United Kingdom with 9% or 2,269, Germany with 7% or 1,988, and France with 6% or 1,590.
In addition, tourists were also welcomed from Australia, Canada, Israel, US and Switzerland.
The influx of Russians place it to remain strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with a cumulative number of arrivals at 31,874, followed by India with 17,221, UK with 10,752, Germany with 10,205 and France with 6,403.
With January arrivals breaking the 100,000 mark for the first time in nine months, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry starts 2023 on a positive note.
Analysts pointed out that most of the hotels are fully booked for the month, looking for a busy February.
They also added that the boost in international airlines operating in Sri Lanka has improved the connectivity and the attractiveness of the destination.
Tourism accounts for close to 5% of Sri Lanka’s economy. The industry is hopeful of achieving 1.55 million visitors and an income of $ 2.88 billion in 2023.
As per the latest statistics, 20 top global international airlines are operating in the country and have almost come to pre-pandemic frequency levels. Apart from the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines; Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Edelweiss Air, Air France, Air India, China Eastern, Gulf Air, Etihad, Malaysian Airlines, Oman Air, Indigo, Air Asia and Fits Air are the airlines operating direct flights to the country. In addition, several code-share flights are operating into Colombo and Mattala.
The MICE tourism segment is earmarked as a key segment Sri Lanka looks to explore this year to push the numbers and earnings.
As per data released by the Central Bank, earnings from the tourism sector in 2022 was 1.13 billion, an increase of 124% from the corresponding period of 2021 impacted by COVID-19. The crossing of the $ 1 billion in 2022 mark follows December earnings amounting to $ 127.4 million.
Sri Lanka also continues to gain attention for its unique tourism offerings and its scenic beauty. The latest was when Sri Lanka has been ranked ninth in a list of the 50 most instagrammable places in the world in 2023, based on Big 7 Travel social media data.
