By: Staff Writer
August 12, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s tourism revenue surpassed $2 billion in the first seven months of 2025, though July saw a slight year-on-year dip despite strong arrivals. Central Bank data showed earnings reached $2.03 billion, up 7.8% from last year, but still short of the 2018 January–July record of $2.59 billion.
In July, the sector earned $318.5 million, down 3% from $328.3 million a year earlier, despite welcoming 200,244 visitors. However, compared to June’s $169.5 million, July revenue jumped 88%, driven by higher daily arrivals and peak summer travel demand. The year’s highest monthly earnings so far remain January’s $400.66 million.
To achieve the Government’s $5 billion annual target, the industry must generate $2.96 billion in the next five months—averaging nearly $594 million per month, double the current pace.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake remains optimistic, predicting 2025 will set a new tourism revenue record. Industry analysts warn that sustained high-spending tourists and stronger global marketing are crucial, with delays in branding campaigns hindering momentum.
With Sri Lanka recently named the world’s best island for 2025 by Big 7 Travel, the Cabinet has approved a Presidential Task Force to fast-track tourism development and capitalise on global attention.
In this context , the government has given green light for the private sector to establish casinos to lure tourists especially from India.
The Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) has said the proposed Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) law will not be adequate to meet the challenging task of overseeing the thriving casino industry.In spite of discussions held since Nov., 2022 when the CoPF formally called for the establishment of dedicated GRA, the relevant stakeholders hadn’t been able to reach a consensus, political sources said.
CoPF Chairman and SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday (10), he emphasised that the parliamentary committee on several occasions had urged the previous government (Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa arrangement) and the incumbent National People’s Power (NPP) government to secure expert advice from jurisdictions that run well-regulated casinos, like Singapore, they weren’t interested.
The CoPF Chairman said that the issue at hand had attracted fresh attention in the wake of the opening of the country’s first integrated resort City of Dreams, an 800-room hotel that housed what the operators called a world class gaming area with license to operate for 20 years.
John Keells Holdings (JKH) has teamed up with Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (“Melco”) developer, owner and operator of integrated resort facilities in Asia and Europe.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake opened the facility on August 2 that received approval from the Finance Ministry during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the President and Finance Minister. NPP and JVP leader Dissanayake currently holds the Finance portfolio.
The CoPF relentlessly pushed the Finance Ministry to finance the process by September 2023 and then by March 31, 2024.
The Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government granted approval for the JKH-Melco project though CoPF on Nov 24, 2022 declared that no new licenses would be issued until the formulation of GRA. Sources said that this announcement was made when CoPF considered two extraordinary gazette notifications on casinos but weren’t approved.
Sources alleged that the Finance Ministry failed to adhere to decisions taken by CoPF to ensure the speedy finalisation of the process to ensure the setting up of GRA in line with international standards. However, for want of the required commitment of the Finance Ministry, the CoPF couldn’t achieve what it wanted to.
