Tourism earnings in Sri Lanka surged by 82% YoY to over $2 billion in 2023 – the upward trend continues in 2024

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has experienced a robust resurgence, surpassing $2 billion in earnings in 2023, accompanied by the arrival of over 1.48 million visitors. This performance marks a significant milestone, representing the highest revenue and influx of visitors since 2019.

The positive trend in tourism continued into 2024, with Sri Lanka welcoming 28,493 tourists in the first four days of February, averaging around 7,000 arrivals per day. This is a promising start compared to February 2023, when Sri Lanka attracted a total of 107,639 tourists throughout the month.

There has been a notable shift in the top source destinations, with Russia claiming the number one spot with 4,279 arrivals, accounting for 15% of the market share. India closely followed, securing the second slot with 4,123 visitors. The United Kingdom emerged as the third-best market for Sri Lanka, with 2,592 arrivals (9%), followed by Germany (1,977) and China (1,950). Hotels in Beruwala, Sri Lanka the likes of Heritance Ayurveda and many other hotels across the country have already received many bookings for most of the year.