Sri Lanka welcomed nearly 136,000 tourists in October, marking a strong 25% increase from the same period last year. This figure, the highest recorded for October in six years, reflects an 11% rise from September’s 122,140 arrivals and suggests post-visa crisis recovery, though it falls short of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority’s (SLTDA) target of 155,070 arrivals for the month.
The trend of missing monthly targets has persisted throughout 2024. However, industry stakeholders credit the Government’s swift action to reinstate the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system on September 26, which boosted daily tourist numbers from 4,079 in September to 4,384 in October. Despite this progress, daily arrivals have yet to return to the first-quarter average of over 6,000.
The positive momentum in October is promising, yet industry leaders emphasize that sustaining growth will require overcoming operational challenges and addressing external factors, such as travel advisories and global economic shifts, which heavily influence visitor numbers.
As of late October, year-to-date (YTD) arrivals reached over 1.62 million, approaching the revised annual goal of 2 million tourists and $3 billion in revenue. The new administration lowered the original targets of 2.3 million visitors and $4 billion in revenue to more realistically reflect current industry limitations.
India remains Sri Lanka’s largest source market, with 36,417 tourists in October. Russia and the UK follow with 10,367 and 10,206 visitors, while Germany and China round out the top five with 9,217 and 8,307 tourists, respectively. India’s cumulative YTD contribution is unmatched at 322,973 visitors, followed by the UK with 146,670 and Russia with 137,599 arrivals.
The return of charter flights from airlines like Red Wings, Enter Air, and Edelweiss is expected to fuel further growth through the winter season ending in March 2025, especially from Eastern European markets. With only two months left in the year, Sri Lanka will need favourable conditions to attract the remaining 379,283 visitors required to meet the revised target of 2 million.