Sunday May 19, 2024
Sunday May 19, 2024
Monday, 6 May 2024 03:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
After a busy winter season, tourist arrivals fell by 29% to 148,867 in April in comparison to March but up 41% year on year. April also saw the end of the over 200,000 arrivals mark achieved in each of the previous four months.
During the month a total of 148,867 tourists arrived, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) figure to 784,651.
February 2024 saw the highest number of arrivals since 2019, with a total of 218,350 visitors recorded.
The industry analysts pointed out that there is a clear decline in arrivals after the new visa regime with higher visa fee was introduced from 17 April onwards. The provisional data issued by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) also showed that the daily average arrivals have dropped significantly from 6,748 in March to 4,962 in April.
However, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando expressed that Sri Lanka was poised to exceed the 2.3 million arrivals target by the end of the year. “There is a line up of events and promotions planned throughout the year. In addition, we see a boost in airline connectivity. Considering all these facts and forecasts, we are confident of surpassing the set target,” he told journalists on Friday.
During April, India topped the tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 27,304, followed by Russia with 15,103, and the UK with 13,173. In addition, tourists were also received from Germany, France, China, Australia, US, Canada and Netherlands.
India stands strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with cumulative number of arrivals at 133,583, followed closely by Russia 106,308, UK with 71,992, Germany 58,019, China 47,730, France 42,174, Australia 28,964, US 24,612, Poland 21,847 and Netherlands 15,686.
