Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is now on the way towards its recovery after setbacks suffered due to this year’s economic and political crisis, alongside protest campaigns that ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka’s tourism sector plays a significant role in the island nation’s economy, making up 12 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Tourism is also Sri Lanka’s third-largest source of foreign exchange, providing much-needed revenue for the government. Tourism brings employment opportunities, adding thousands of direct and indirect jobs to the Sri Lankan economy.
Ministry of Tourism sources disclosed that the current regime has earned over US $1 billion in foreign exchange from tourism receipts since taking office in late July.
The ministry estimates that by December 2022, Sri Lanka will have taken in approximately $1.7 billion.
Nearing the tourist traffic target of 800,000 this year, the tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka for the first two weeks have crossed the 30,000 mark, bringing the total number of international visitors entering the country to 658,210.
Sri Lanka aims to end the year with a target of having attracted 800,000 international visitors.
To realise the target, the destination needs to lure at least 141,790 tourists in the next two weeks, which means the daily arrival average needs to leap to 8,370.
The provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority show that for the December 01 to 13 period, the island nation welcomed 30,193 tourists.
The daily arrival average for the month of December so far is 2,322. The weekly analysis shows that for the first week of December (01-07), 16,169 tourists entered the country, whereas in the second week so far (08-13), a total of 14,024 visitors have been welcomed.
The largest tourist traffic generator for December so far has been the Russian Federation, bringing in 21 percent of the total tourist arrivals.
Ranking second is India, accounting for 18 percent of the arrivals and in the third position is the United Kingdom, contributing to 9 percent of the total tourist traffic. The other notable markets include Australia, Germany and the United States.
