Sri Lanka records third highest annual tourist arrivals despite forecast miss – Business News

•  Ends 2024 with 2.053 mn tourist arrivals
•  India, Russia and the UK rank as top three tourist source markets for SL

Sri Lanka recorded its third-highest annual tourist arrivals in 2024, welcoming 2,053,465 visitors. This shows a 38.07 percent  year-on-year (YoY) growth, despite falling slightly short of the 2.3 million arrivals forecast.
For the whole  of 2024, cumulative tourist arrivals reached 2.053 million. Sri Lanka recorded the highest tourist arrivals in 2018 with 2.3 million international visitors entering the country. The second highest was recorded in 2017, with 2.1 million tourist arrivals. 

Due to multiple crises in 2018, the island nation has struggled to cross the 3 million milestone. After surpassing one million annual arrivals in 2012, the country reached the two-million milestone within just four years, in 2016. 
India remained as the largest contributor for 2024, with 416,974 arrivals, a significant increase from 302,844 the previous year. Russia secured the second spot with 198,601 arrivals, slightly up from 197,498 in 2023. The United Kingdom ranked third with 178,339 visitors, up from 130,088 in 2023. Germany and China also crossed the 100,000 mark, recording 136,084 and 131,681 arrivals, respectively. Notably, the Netherlands entered the top ten source markets, while Canada fell out of the list. Other significant contributors included Australia, France, the United States, and the Maldives.

Meanwhile, for the month of December, the country saw a YoY increase of 18.18 percent in tourist arrivals, reaching 248,592 visitors. 

However, the figure fell short of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority’s (SLTDA) optimistic monthly forecast of 256,389 by approximately 8,000. This marked a consistent trend throughout the year, where monthly arrivals failed to meet SLTDA’s ambitious targets. Nevertheless, the authority maintained its original annual forecast of 2.3 million tourists until the end of the year.

India continued to dominate as the leading source market, contributing 52,881 arrivals in December alone. Russia followed with 35,268 visitors, while the United Kingdom secured the third position with 18,757 arrivals. Germany ranked fourth with 14,703 visitors, and Australia rounded out the top five with 13,109 arrivals. Other notable source markets included China, the United States, the Maldives, France, and Poland.

For 2025, Sri Lanka has set an ambitious target to surpass the three million tourist arrival milestone. (NF)

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