Saturday Oct 18, 2025
Saturday Oct 18, 2025
Friday, 17 October 2025 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The tourism industry has reached a key milestone, surpassing 1.8 million tourist arrivals for the year as of mid-October 2025, signalling continued recovery and growing global confidence in the destination.
The latest data shows 75,657 tourists visiting the country during the first 15 days of October, reflecting a 19.2% year-on-year (YoY) increase and pushing the year-to-date (YTD) growth to 16.3% YoY.
However, arrivals in October showed a gradual decline week-on-week, with 38,475 visitors in the first week, 32,740 in the second and 4,442 tourists on 15 October. Despite this slowdown, the month’s early figures suggest a solid start to the final quarter of 2025, which is traditionally the strongest period for Sri Lanka’s tourism.
The average daily arrivals rose notably from 4,233 in mid-October 2024 to 5,044 in 2025, indicating improved traveller confidence and the success of recent promotional campaigns targeting regional and long-haul markets.
With an overall projection of 197,693 arrivals for October, the tourism sector has to draw 122,036 more tourists in the next half of the month to reach the target.
However, reaching pre-crisis levels remains a challenge. By the end of October 2018, Sri Lanka had recorded 1.88 million arrivals, meaning the country needs an additional 83,894 visitors to match that level this year.
India continued to dominate as the largest source market, contributing 20,982 visitors or 27.7% of arrivals during the first 15 days of October. China followed with 6,450 visitors (8.5%), marking a strong rebound as outbound travel from the mainland accelerates. The UK (7.9%), Germany (6.2%) and Russia (5%) rounded out the top five markets.
On a cumulative basis, India remains the clear leader with 396,274 arrivals (22%), followed by the UK (167,886; 9%), Russia (125,950; 7%), Germany (111,677; 6%), and China (108,040; 6%). The figures highlight the country’s sustained reliance on traditional markets but also signal gradual diversification, particularly with China and other Asian countries showing renewed interest.
The Government’s revised 2025 target of 2.6 million arrivals still requires attracting over 800,000 visitors in the last quarter, a task that industry experts describe as “ambitious but attainable”, depending on winter season performance and global travel conditions.
