Tourist arrivals top 100,000 in first 17 days of July

Friday, 18 July 2025 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

First 16 days of July welcome 98,765 tourists
Daily July arrivals must rise 64% to meet monthly goal of 277,195
Sri Lanka needs 1.73 m more visitors to meet 3 m target
YTD arrivals up by 18.5%; India leads source markets, followed by UK and Russia
Monthly average arrivals must reach 290,000 to hit 2025 target, vs. 252,761 peak in January so far
Industry warns current pace insufficient to reach targets without urgent action

Sri Lanka welcomed over 100,000 visitors yesterday, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) figure to over 1.26 million arrivals.

During the first 16 days of July, Sri Lanka saw 98,765 tourists, 1,724 higher than the same period last year.

From 1 to 16 July, average daily arrivals stood at 6,173, up from 6,065 visitors in the same period last year. In absolute terms, arrivals during the first 16 days of July this year increased by 1,724 from 97,032 in 2024 to 98,765 this year.

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has projected 277,195 arrivals for the month of July.

With only 98,765 visitors welcomed in the first 16 days, the country now needs to bring in an additional 178,430 travellers over the remaining 15 days of the month—an average of 11,895 arrivals per day. This requires a 64% increase in daily arrivals compared to the month’s early arrival figures, which is a steep challenge, even with the seasonal bump expected during the Kandy Esala Perahera—one of the country’s key tourist draws.

In terms of the YTD figure to 1,266,809 arrivals, it is an 18.5% year-on-year (YoY) increase. However, with an ambitious target of 3 million arrivals and $ 5 billion in revenue set for the year, the country must attract over 1.73 million (1,733,911) tourists—or nearly 58% of the full-year goal—over the second half of 2025.

Despite the overall positive YTD growth so far, analysts warn that current trends are insufficient to meet annual targets. To hit the annual target, the industry requires an average of around 290,000 arrivals per month for the remainder of the year to reach the 3 million mark, a rate well above what’s been achieved so far in 2025. The 252,761 tourists in January remain the highest monthly arrivals so far in 2025.

India continues to dominate as the top source market for Sri Lanka, sending 19,687 tourists during the first 16 days of July and accounting for 261,681 arrivals YTD. The UK has emerged as the second biggest tourist generating market YTD with 118,555 tourists, surpassing Russia and putting it in third place with 113,888 visitors.

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