January 12, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has opened the new year on an upbeat note, with official figures showing a steady stream of visitors during the opening days of January.
Statistics from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority indicate that nearly 68,000 travellers entered the country within the first eight days alone.
India emerged as the leading source market, contributing just over 11,000 visitors and accounting for around 17 per cent of arrivals during this period. Russia followed, with more than 8,000 tourists, while the United Kingdom and Germany also featured prominently among the top contributors. Australia, too, continued to show consistent interest, sending several thousand holidaymakers to the island in the early days of the year.
The positive momentum builds on a strong performance earlier this year, with January 2025 recording more than 250,000 arrivals overall. Tourism officials view this as an encouraging sign of sustained recovery and growing confidence in Sri Lanka as a destination.
Last year proved to be a landmark period for the industry, as visitor numbers surpassed 2.36 million, the highest figure recorded in recent times. Authorities are hopeful that the current trend will continue, further boosting the economy and reinforcing the country’s position on the global travel map.
