Tourist arrivals cross 500K mark; renew hope of achieving 1 m target

• 4,020 tourists in first 4 days of Sept. push YTD arrivals to 500,472 
• India, UK, Australia, Germany, Canada among top source markets
• SLTDA Chief Priantha Fernando confident of achieving 1 m arrivals
• Eyes $ 1.75 b earnings this year; $ 825 m netted so far in first 7 months

By Charumini de Silva

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have exceeded the half-a-million mark, with 4,020 travellers arriving in the country during the first four days of the month. 

As per provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) yesterday, a total of 500,472 visitors arrived so far.

During the first four days of September, India topped the tourist inflow with 844, followed by the UK with 490, Australia with 320, Germany with 278, and Canada with 230 travellers. In addition, travellers from Russia, Maldives, France, Spain, and the US were welcomed in Sri Lanka.

On 1 September, a total of 1,029 tourists, followed by 1,079 on 2 September, 1,014 on 3 September, and 920 on 4 September arrived in the country. The daily average of arrivals was 1,011. 

In August, arrivals fell by 20.2% to 37,760 from 47,293 in July, as a direct impact of the unfavourable travel advisories imposed by multiple countries against Sri Lanka. 

Despite the multiple challenges, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry looks to be in high season, as they ramp up efforts to achieve the set target of one million arrivals and boost foreign exchange inflows to overcome the economic woes.

“Sri Lanka could achieve the set target of one million tourists, whilst earning over $ 1.75 billion by year-end,” SLTDA Chairman Priantha Fernando told the Daily FT expressing his confidence.

Tourism earnings in the first seven months were at $ 824.9 million, as against $ 50.4 million in the same period a year earlier, the Central Bank provisional data shows. 

In July, tourism earnings were estimated at $ 85.1 million, compared to $ 6.3 million in the same period a year earlier. 

Sri Lanka lost over $ 10 billion in foreign exchange earnings, which generate over $ 4.3 billion annually, due to the pandemic during the past two years.