India maintained the top spot as the leading source market for Sri Lanka tourism in the first 8 months of 2024. Almost 2.6 lacs Indians travelled to the island nation while 1.36 million tourists in all arrived in the first eight months of the year. As per the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the increase in tourist arrivals in the current year to date increased by 50.7 per cent as against the same period in 2023.
Meanwhile, the latest data from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka shows that during the same period, the island nation earned 2.17 billion US dollars, which is a 66.1 per cent increase from last year. Tourism is one of Sri Lanka’s top foreign revenue generators. Sri Lankan tourism authorities have recently said that they expect three million foreign tourists in 2025 which could take the tourism industry to pre-Covid levels. The Easter attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been cited as the reasons for a slump in the Sri Lankan tourism industry.
