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Sri Lanka, in the calendar year to 20 April 2023 has entertained a total of 405,478 tourists, whereas the figure for the totality of last year (2022) was a mere 719,978, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) statistics of Friday’s (21 April) showed. This number of 405,478 is equivalent to 56.32 per cent of the total tourist arrival figure of last year.
Meanwhile, tourist arrivals to the island in the first 20 days of this month (April), surpassed the totality of tourist arrivals for the whole of April 2022 by 10.83 per cent (6,819), Whereas the total number of tourist arrivals for the totality of April 2022 was a miserly 62,980, the corresponding number in only the first 20 days of this month (April 2023) amounted to 69,799; statistics further showed.
According to latest Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) data, tourism earnings in the first three months (first quarter) of the year raked in US$ 529.8 million, a year on year (YoY) increase of 9.8 per cent (USD 47.4 million). Further, tourist arrivals in the first quarter of the year (2023), YoY increased by 17.64 per cent (50,345) to 335,679, latest SLTDA data further showed.
Tourism was Sri Lanka’s fifth largest foreign exchange earner last year (2022), behind garments, remittances, IT and IT enabled services exports and tea in that descending order, respectively, according to latest CBSL and Export Development Board data.
Tourism earnings for the whole of last year (2022), raked in a total of USD 1,136.3 million, a YoY increase of 124.2 per cent, while arrivals in the same period increased by 270.2 per cent YoY to 719,978, CBSL data also showed.