Tourist visits top 800,000

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) statistics revealed that the number of foreign tourists who have visited the country so far this year has exceeded eight hundred thousand.

Marking a significant progress in the first two months of this year, 740,634 foreign tourists had arrived in the country by the end of March. Including 68,961 tourists who arrived in the country in the first 15 days of April, the total reached to 809,595 arrivals. In accordance with the SLTDA statistics, 277,327, 279,328 and 183,979 tourists had arrived in the country in the months of January, February and March respectively. Of these, January and February showed an increase of 9.7% and 16.2% compared to the same months of the previous year (2025).

However, tourist arrivals in March recorded a decrease of 19.7% compared to the previous year. The reason for this was the prevailing tense situation in the Middle East that began in the last few days of February. So far this year, 167,095 tourists have come from India. Similarly, 84,748 tourists have come from the United Kingdom and 69,478 from Russia. In addition, the number of tourists from Germany and China is 56,676 and 53,347 respectively.

Meanwhile, according to statistics of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), the revenue received from the tourism industry in the first three months of the year is recorded as US $ 954 million, This is a 15 percent decrease compared to the income of US $ 1,122.3 million collected in the same period in 2025. Of this, the revenue collected in March is US $ 223.7 million, which is a 36.8 percent decrease compared to the US $ 354 million collected in 2025.

Source: Daily News