Tourist arrivals top 100,000 in first half of February

• Sri Lanka welcomes 115,328 tourists, pushing YTD to 323,581
• Arrivals so far surpass total visitors received for the entirety of February 2023

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is experiencing a striking influx as the country welcomed over 100,000 tourists in the first 15 days of February, continuing to set an optimistic tone for 2024.

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) released provisional figures yesterday, indicating that 115,328 tourists were welcomed in the first half of the month, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) figure to 323,581. 

This achievement exceeds the total arrivals recorded for the entire month of February in 2023 which was registered at 107,639. 

Industry analysts said the sector is making significant strides toward its ambitious goal of 238,614 monthly arrivals for February, where 52% of this target has already been accomplished within the first half of the month.

The data also showed that the daily average arrivals have picked up to 7,689 in February so far, a stark increase compared to last year as well as to January which stood at 6,717. 

Russia leads the arrivals during the first 15 days of the month with 16,701 visitors, followed by India with 15,220 and UK contributing 11,548 arrivals. In addition, visitors from China, Germany, France, Poland, Australia, US and the Netherlands were also welcomed.

India maintains its position as the top tourist source market for Sri Lanka year-to-date (YTD), with a cumulative total of 49,619 arrivals, followed by Russia with 47,860, UK with 28,213, Germany with 21,671 and China with 20,587 arrivals.

For 2024, Sri Lanka Tourism has set an ambitious target to welcome 2.3 million tourists and earn over $ 4.5 billion.