Tourist arrivals are averaging over 4,000 per day this month as against the 3,800 level in the last few months, mainly boosted by Russian travellers.
Sri Lanka has welcomed 24,363 tourists during the first six days of the month, whilst daily arrivals have hit 4,061, the provisional data by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.
The first six-day arrivals in March have also pushed the cumulative figure to date to 234,547, paving a good kick-start for the year 2023.
Russia continues as the top source market, reflecting 24% or 5,784 of total arrivals during the first six days followed by India with 14% or 3,405, Germany with 8% or 2,037, the UK with 8% or 1,945, and France with 6% or 1,320.
Industry analysts pointed out that the resumption of many new international airlines and charter flights as well as the global promotions at the ITB Berlin, and the continuous global spotlight on Sri Lanka were the key reasons for the favourable pick-up in arrival figures.
Tourism earnings in the first two months of 2023 were at $ 331.7 million reflecting a 3.3% increase from the corresponding period of last year, whilst February earnings stood at $ 169.9 million, as per the latest Central Bank data released.
For the first time after 2019, Sri Lanka Tourism recorded over 100,000 tourist arrivals in two consecutive months of 2023.
After absorbing the brunt of many COVID waves in 2020 and 2021 and political instability and economic crisis in 2022, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has made a strong comeback in 2023.
In February Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 107,639 tourists, pushing the cumulative figure to 210,184 in 2023 so far.
Source: March sees daily average exceeds over 4,000 | Daily FT
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