Sri Lanka Tourism Reaches Key Milestone, SLTPB Confident of Crossing 2 Million Mark in 2024
Sri Lanka achieved a significant milestone on Saturday by welcoming its one millionth tourist for 2024. Patricia Roe and her husband Paul from Ireland, who arrived on 29 June on UL 504 from London, were the milestone visitors. This is their first visit to the island nation.
The couple, who will be touring Sri Lanka for three weeks starting from Trincomalee, received a ceremonial welcome at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake.
This milestone highlights Sri Lanka Tourism’s growing momentum in promoting the country’s uniqueness as a ‘treasure trove’ among global travel destinations, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB).
“This visit indicates a positive outlook for Sri Lanka in terms of future tourist arrivals. As Sri Lanka Tourism gets closer to its target of over two million tourist arrivals for this year, this can be considered another successful result of our promotional efforts, boosting revenue as the third-largest foreign exchange earner in the country,” the SLTPB said in a statement.
According to the latest arrival data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 91,666 international visitors from 1 to 25 June. Although the Authority set a target of 148,695 tourist arrivals for June, the daily arrival average of around 3,666 indicates that this target is unlikely to be met.
While the 100,000 mark for June was crossed on 27 June, Sri Lanka is expected to end the month with about 109,000 to 110,000 international visitors.
