India regains status as biggest monthly tourist source after six-month reign by Russia

• Arrivals from India in April were close to 20,000, those from Russia slipped to 14,656
• SL records over 100,000 tourist arrivals for 4th consecutive month after 2019
• April arrivals lag in March due to end of winter season
• Cumulative Jan-April arrivals at 441,177 with Russians dominating

 India regained status as highest monthly tourist source for Sri Lanka in April after Russia held the top slot for six months.

Sri Lanka saw 19,915 Indian tourists (19% of total) in April as against 14,656 (14%) from Russia. India last held the top slot in October last year with 8,862 tourists whilst Russia was number two at 6,189 visitors. However Russia remained the biggest source market on a cumulative basis in the first four months. 

Industry analysts said arrivals from Russia in April decelerated from 25,553 in March as the winter season came to an end. 

On the other hand the gain in arrivals from India from 18,959 in March was largely influenced by the successful series of roadshows Sri Lanka Tourism conducted in multi cities of Southern India last week of April.

Last year India was Sri Lanka’s biggest source market with 123,000 arrivals accounting for 17% of total. Russia came second with 91,272 visitors of 12.7% and UK third with 85,187 tourists or 11.8%.

In April, Sri Lanka enjoyed its fourth consecutive month of over 100,000 tourist arrivals, an achievement for the first time since 2019. There were 105,498 tourist arrivals in April up by 67.5% from a year ago but lower than 125,495 in March. In April other arrivals included 8,743 from the UK, 7,404 from Germany and 5,535 from France. In addition, tourists were also received from China, Australia, the US, Maldives, Canada, and Japan, the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed. 

Arrivals in the first four months amounted to 441,177 (as against 348,314 in crisis-hit 2022) – a welcome development for the triple-hit tourism industry, but performance is still down by 50% compared to the same period in the benchmark year 2018. Russia remains strong as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka YTD with 94,542, followed by India, UK, Germany and France.