In a positive stride, international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka surpassed the 50,000 mark within the first nine days of April, extending the growth momentum. According to provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the island nation welcomed a total of 50,537 visitors during this period, contributing to the cumulative arrivals from January 1 to March 9, which stood at 686,321.
Comparing with the corresponding period last year, the influx of international visitors has surged by over 45 percent in the nine-day timeframe. The daily average has also shown improvement, reaching approximately 5615 this month, compared to around 3844 a year ago.
Sri Lanka has set a target of between 168,539 and 182,724 tourist arrivals for April, necessitating a daily average ranging between 5617 and 6090 to achieve this goal. The current arrival trend indicates that Sri Lanka is on track to meet the lower end of this target for the month.
India emerged as the leading contributor to tourist traffic, constituting 19 percent of total arrivals for the month. The UK surpassed Russia to become the second-largest generator of tourist traffic, accounting for 13 percent of arrivals. With recent updates to travel advisories by UK authorities favoring Sri Lanka, the country anticipates a rise in tourist arrivals from the UK.
Russia closely followed as the third-largest contributor, bringing in 10 percent of total international visitors. Germany, France, Australia, and China secured the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh positions, respectively, in the rankings.
