Increase in earnings from tourism

Sri Lanka has made record earnings from tourism in the first 45 days of this year, amounting to seven billion rupees (about 22.4 million U.S. dollars) from 306,708 tourists.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Director General Nalin Perera said that there is a surge in tourism in Sri Lanka and that the country is witnessing the arrival of around 9,000 visitors daily.

India, Australia, China, India and Russia are among the biggest groups of tourists to Sri Lanka, he said.

Sri Lanka is planning to get one million tourists from China by the end of 2025, Perera said.

According to official data, over 1.48 million tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2023, marking a two-fold increase from the previous year. The Government aims to surpass the peak of 2.5 million tourists, recorded in 2017, by the end of 2024.