First 24 days of March draw 163,000 tourists

A tourist savours an attraction at Gangaramaya, Colombo 2 via her mobile phone camera  

- Pic by Ruwan Walpola

• YTD arrivals pushed to 589,654
• India, Russia, Germany top source markets so far

Tourist arrivals have exceeded 163,000 in the first 24 days reinforcing the industry’s rebound.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) data showed during the first 24 days Sri Lanka received a record 163,051 tourists, whilst pushing the year-to-date (YTD) arrivals to 589,654.

A total of 47,221 travellers arrived in the first week, followed by 43,983 in the second week, 47,972 in the third week and 23,875 tourists in the remaining days.  The boost in arrivals was largely influenced by Indian tourists, closely followed by Russian travellers. Other top markets include Germany, the UK and China. Daily arrivals have also reached 6,794 compared to over 6,546 levels last year showing a significant improvement. India (89,850) and Russia (85,911) remain top tourist source markets YTD reflecting 15% of total arrivals, followed by the UK (51,889), Germany (44,526) and China (36,404) respectively.

The tourism industry has also managed to rebound with earnings exceeding $ 687.6 million in tandem with the boost in arrivals so far during the first two months.