Tourism earns $ 1.8 b in 1H

Thursday, 22 August 2019 02:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Registers predictable decline when compared to $ 2.1 b in same period last year
Remittances grow 2.5% in June but show decline of 9.8% to $ 3.2 b in 1H

Earnings from tourism predictably declined in the first half but still managed to post $ 1.8 billion in earnings when compared with $ 2.1 billion earned in the same period the previous year.

Tourist arrivals gradually recovered in June from the impact of the Easter Sunday attacks. Accordingly, tourist arrivals increased by 66.8% to 63,072 in June in comparison to 37,802 in May. However, tourist arrivals in June registered a year-on-year decline of 57%.

The drop in tourist arrivals was mainly due to the decline in the number of tourists from key destinations such as India, China, the UK and Australia in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks.

The decline in arrivals from India and China accounted for 41.6% of the total decline in June.

Earnings from tourism were estimated at $ 118 million in June, in comparison to $ 276 million in June 2018. On a cumulative basis, earnings from tourism were estimated at $ 1,893 million during the first six months of 2019 compared to $ 2,186 million during the corresponding period of 2018.

Meanwhile, workers’ remittances grew by 2.5%, year-on-year, to $ 537 million in June. On a cumulative basis, however, workers’ remittances recorded a decline of 9.8% reaching $ 3,270 million during the first half of 2019 in comparison to the corresponding period of 2018.