Sri Lanka welcomes over 43,000 tourists in early June

• First 10 days’ arrivals rise 33% YoY to 43,962 visitors
• Daily arrivals average 4,396, up from 3,302 in June 2024
• SLTDA projects 177,257 arrivals for June; industry remains cautious amidst raging Iran-Israel conflict
• YTD arrivals up 16% YoY to 1.07 m tourists
• Industry sees ‘Nation Branding’ launch on 26 June as pivotal
• India, UK and Bangladesh lead June arrivals so far; while India, Russia, UK top YTD markets
• Sector needs 1.93 m more visitors to achieve 3 m yearly target and $ 3.46 b income to meet $ 5 b revenue goal

Sri Lanka has seen a promising 33% rise year-on-year (YoY) in tourist arrivals during the first 10 days of June, welcoming 43,962 visitors compared to 33,017 during the same period in 2024. 

However, the industry is now watching with concern as the growing conflict in the Middle East starts to affect global air travel.

The daily average also saw a notable improvement, rising to 4,396 visitors per day, up from 3,302 during the same period last year.

The trend is welcoming given that there is interest among international travellers, despite it being an off-season month.

For June, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) forecasts 177,257 arrivals, but industry stakeholders remain cautious amidst the shortfall against projections throughout the first five months of the year. Arrivals fell short of forecasts by a cumulative 279,452 tourists during the first five months, highlighting the challenges of converting potential into actual footfall despite improving macro trends.

Between 1 January and 10 June 2025, Sri Lanka welcomed over 1.07 million visitors, a 16% increase from the 927,196 tourists registered in the same period a year ago.

The performance gap is particularly striking given that Sri Lanka has already exceeded pre-COVID arrival levels in several months. In January, February, and May 2025, arrivals surpassed those of the same months in the benchmark year 2018, followed by 4,599 in February and 3,453 in May. 

These gains point to the renewed appeal of Sri Lanka as a travel destination, but does not completely translate into the consistent growth the industry needs to fully stabilise. 

A key obstacle remained the delay in the rollout of a global campaign for 16 years. The upcoming ‘Nation Branding,’ scheduled on 26 June, is seen as a critical intervention that could help drive higher arrivals during the lucrative winter season.

Tourism industry stakeholders are hoping the campaign will boost Sri Lanka’s visibility in key markets and support more sustainable growth. 

India, the UK, and Bangladesh have emerged as the top three source markets so far in June with footfalls of 12,362, 3,740, and 2,717 tourists, respectively.

On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, India continues to lead with 216,422 arrivals, followed by Russia with 111,285, and the UK with 100,014 visitors. These markets remained key to Sri Lanka’s recovery strategy.

With Sri Lanka aiming to woo 3 million arrivals and generate $ 5 billion revenue by the end of the year, the industry needs to draw around 1.93 million tourists or 64.2% of its annual target during the remaining months of 2025. During the first five months, the sector generated over $ 1.54 billion in revenue, while $ 3.46 billion or 69.2% is needed to achieve the set income goal. 

Sri Lanka generated a total of $ 3.16 billion in tourism revenue in 2024, a significant 53.2% rise from the $ 2.07 billion in 2023.