Tourist arrival momentum dips slightly in April

A tourist exploring Colombo in a rented three wheel, popularly referred to as tuk-tuk - Pic by Pradeep Pathirana

Tourist arrivals to the island nation continue to pickup from levels witnessed since the pandemic and the economic crisis. However, a slight drop in momentum is seen for the month of April.

Provisional data showed that Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 107,124 international travellers in the first three weeks of April. When compared with the first three months of the year, a slowdown is seen.
While in April the 100,000 tourist arrival mark was crossed in three weeks, from January to March the milestone was reached within two to two and a half weeks.

The daily arrival average dropped to the levels of 5,100, while the weekly arrival average dipped to 35,000.

However, this slowdown is not unusual as when looking at the monthly tourist arrival trends, even before the pandemic, a slowdown was seen in April, after a hike in the first quarter. The momentum will further drop in the coming two months before picking up in July.

For the month of April so far, India ranks as the largest tourist traffic generator, as it accounted for 17 percent of the total arrivals. Russian Federation ranks second bringing in 11 percent of the total tourist arrivals, and the United Kingdom third, accounting for 10 percent of the arrivals.

China, a market which the tourism authorities are keen to see an improvement in, has slipped to the seventh position.