July 07, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s tourism sector saw a significant surge in earnings, exceeding US$ 1.5 billion during the initial half of 2024, marking a robust 77.9 per cent rise compared to the previous year, as per the latest update from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
The number of tourist arrivals in the first six months reached 1.01 million, reflecting a notable increase of 61.7 per cent from the corresponding period in 2023.
June witnessed tourism revenues amounting to US$ 113.4 million, a rise from the previous year’s US$ 100.3 million, according to reports from Xinhua.
Concurrently, remittances from overseas workers for the first half of 2024 totalled US$ 3.14 billion, up from US$ 2.82 billion in the same period last year.
Remittance earnings for June alone amounted to US$ 519.6 million.
Both tourism and remittances play crucial roles as leading sources of foreign income for Sri Lanka, bolstering the nation’s economic landscape.
