Tourist arrivals cross half a million mark

The tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka crossed the half a million mark this week, fulfilling 25 percent of the arrivals target set for 2023, official data released yesterday revealed. 
The data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed the 500,000 mark was reached on May 22, where tourist arrivals totalled 501,289 for the year so far. 
The updated data showed that for the January 01 to May 23, 2023 period, the cumulative tourist arrivals totalled 503,655, with 62,487 international visitors entering the country from May 01 to 23. 
The momentum of tourists entering the country has dropped, due to the end of the peak season in April. 
Over the years, even before the economic crisis in 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and Easter Sunday attack in 2019, the month of May has always recorded the lowest tourist arrivals in any given year. 
While the pace of tourists entering the country has gathered steam in 2023, it is yet to reach the levels of 2018, which has been the best-performing year for Sri Lanka tourism, where the monthly arrival average was about 195,000 and the daily arrival average was in the range of 5,000 to 6,000. 

For the current year, till May 23, the Russian Federation has emerged as the largest tourist traffic generator for Sri Lanka, accounting for 20 percent of the total arrivals. 
Russia’s leading position however is expected to be soon taken over by the neighbouring giant India, from where tourist arrivals are fast picking up the momentum. 
India ranks as the second largest source market for Sri Lanka, for the year so far, contributing to 16 percent of the cumulative arrivals. 
The United Kingdom ranks as the third largest source market (8 percent), while Germany and France rank as the fourth and fifth.  China, which was a key source market for Sri Lanka tourism before the Covid-19 pandemic, ranks as the ninth largest tourist traffic generator, contributing to 3 percent of the arrivals. 
After easing the ‘zero Covid-19 policy’, China resumed outbound travel to 20 countries in February and to Sri Lanka in March. Sri Lanka has set a target of two million tourist arrivals for this year