Sri Lanka to welcome 1 millionth tourist today

Saturday, 24 May 2025 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Tourism is set to welcome its one millionth tourist today (24), making a major milestone.

This achievement comes one month ahead of last year’s timeline, when the same milestone was reached only at the end of June 2024.

According to the latest data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the country has attracted 91,785 visitors in the first 21 days of May, bringing the year-to-date (YTD) total to 988,669 — just shy of over 4,370 arrivals, officials are confident that the milestone will be crossed today.

The early arrival of the millionth tourist signals strong momentum, despite falling short of ambitious monthly forecasts. Although the industry started the year with promising figures during the first two months, monthly targets have consistently been missed since March 2025.

In January 2025 welcomed 252,761 tourists — 13,837 more than in January 2018 but 52,926 below the 2025 forecast, while February saw 240,217 arrivals — 4,599 higher than February 2018, yet 70,720 short of the projection. March drew 229,298 tourists, 4,084 fewer than in March 2018 and 73,505 below the target and April registered 174,608 visitors, 5,821 less than in April 2018 and 50,102 below the 2025 monthly forecast.

Although Sri Lanka Tourism set an ambitious target of 165,118 arrivals for May, so far only 91,785 tourists have arrived in the first 21 days, requiring a further 73,333 in the 10 days — a goal analysts believe will be difficult to achieve based on current trends.

If current patterns continue, Sri Lanka will likely close May with just over 130,000 arrivals, pushing the YTD figure to nearly 1.2 million — a noteworthy achievement given that the authorities failed to rollout the promised global marketing campaign and free-visa policy to boost arrivals during the off season.

Sri Lanka aims to attract 3 million tourists and generate an income of $ 5 billion by the end of the year.

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