The Arrival of Tourists to Sri Lanka has Doubled

Sri Lanka’s tourism revenues grew more than double to 210.5 million US dollars in August 2023 from a year earlier, as the arrivals have gradually picked up, official data show.

The tourism revenue numbers are based on a survey conducted by the tourism promotion office and released by the central bank.

Estimated tourism revenues for August was 210.5 million US dollars, up from 67.9 million US dollars in the same month a year earlier.

The revenues for the first eight month was $1.3 billion US dollars, 56.7 percent up from 832.6 million US dollars in the same period in 2022.

August arrivals also more than doubled to 136,405, compared to last year’s 37,760, while 904,318 foreign visitors came to the island nation in the first eight months of this year compared to 496,430, the official data showed.

The tourism arrival was hit by violence in the June quarter of 2022 after then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters brutally attacked unarmed protesters on May 9 to evict them from prolonged protest sites in capital Colombo.

Later, the violence spread throughout the country with some targeted ruling politicians and damaged their houses and properties. (Colombo/September 09/2023)