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Come next year, Sri Lanka Tourism is optimistic of chasing a very ambitious target of 2.5 million to 3 million tourist arrivals, while expecting revenue of $ 6 billion, a top official said.
“Sri Lanka is very optimistic about next year. The goal we want to chase is anything between 2.5 and 3 million tourist arrivals and an income of around $ 6 billion,” Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Chairman Kishu Gomes told journalists yesterday.
Given how Sri Lanka was devastated by the deadly Easter Sunday attacks, he said we should all be satisfied with the recovery.
With just two more months left, Gomes said that if Sri Lanka received an average of 200,000 travellers each month, it could end with a total of 1.9 million tourist arrivals compared to its original estimate of 2.1 million in the wake of the Easter Sunday attacks.
However, anticipation is high for December in comparison to November.
Gomes also said the accurate estimate for October would end at around 120,000 tourist arrivals, with the total number of tourists received for the first 10 months set to hit almost 1.5 million visitors.
Sri Lanka Tourism anticipates a 21% decline in tourist arrivals in October compared to the corresponding period of 2018.
“The rate of decline is progressively reducing and it gives us hope,” he added. (CdeS)