Tourist arrivals off to strong start in August, cumulative arrivals cross 1.4 mn 

Local and foreign tourists interact with an elephant at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, established in 1975, is the first of its kind in the world and currently houses more than 60 orphan elephants.
Pic by Pradeep Pathirana

By Nishel Fernando

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has made a powerful start to August, with early figures indicating the country is on track for its best-ever arrivals for the month.

The first five days of August saw a 20 percent surge in tourist arrivals compared to the same period last year, while the island nation also celebrated crossing the 1.4 million visitor milestone for 2025.

According to the latest report from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the  nation welcomed 40,047 tourists from August 1 to 5, 2025. This represents a significant increase from the 33,375 arrivals recorded during the corresponding days in 2024. The strong performance pushed the cumulative arrivals for the year to 1,408,335 as of August 5.

The daily arrival average for the initial five days stood at a robust 8,009 tourists. Based on this average, the island is forecasted to welcome approximately 248,279 visitors for the full month. If this trend continues, it would comfortably surpass the 164,609 arrivals of August 2024 and the previous monthly high of 200,359 recorded in August 2018.

During the first five days of August, India remained the leading source market, contributing 17.4 percent  of total arrivals with 6,963 tourists. The United Kingdom followed with 4,345 tourists, while China, France, and Italy rounded out the top five with 3,090, 3,049, and 2,739 tourists respectively.

The surge in arrivals is largely attributed to major cultural events such as the Kandy Esala Perahera, a significant attraction for international visitors along with the recently rolled-out free visa scheme. Despite the positive momentum, the industry faces an uphill battle to achieve its ambitious target of 3 million tourist arrivals for the year. With 1,408,335 visitors welcomed year-to-date, nearly 1.6 million more arrivals are needed in the remaining five months. This requires a sustained monthly average of approximately 320,000 tourists, a figure significantly higher than the 252,761 arrivals seen in January 2025, the best-performing month of the year so far.

From January 1st to August 5th, the top five countries contributing to tourism were India with 286,085 tourists, followed by the United Kingdom with 135,722, Russia with 116,257, Germany with 87,522, and China with 81,859.