Sri Lanka recorded 183,979 tourist arrivals in March 2026, a sharp decline compared to the same month last year. 

The figure represents a 19.7 per cent drop from March 2025 and a 21.2 per cent decrease compared to March 2018, highlighting a slowdown after strong growth in the first two months of the year.

The decline is mainly attributed to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has affected travel plans from key source markets.

According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), January 2026 recorded 277,327 arrivals, reflecting a 9.7 per cent increase from January 2025 and a 16 per cent rise compared to 2018. 

February 2026 saw 279,328 arrivals, marking a 16.2 per cent increase from February 2025 and an 18.5 per cent rise compared to 2018. 

These strong gains in the first two months highlight the contrast with March’s sharp decline.

India remained the leading source market in March, contributing 47,533 visitors, followed by the United Kingdom with 18,092, the Russian Federation with 15,685, China with 14,064, and Germany with 13,429. 

Australia, France, the United States, Japan, and Bangladesh rounded off the top ten source markets.

Despite the March decline, Sri Lanka’s tourism sector welcomed a total of 740,634 visitors in the first quarter of 2026.

Full report: https://www.sltda.gov.lk/storage/common_media/Weekly_Report_1st_to_31st_March_2026.pdf (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka welcomed 198,235 tourists in August 2025, marking a 20.4 per cent increase compared to the same month last year, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

India remained the largest source market, contributing 46,473 visitors and accounting for 23.4 per cent of total arrivals. The United Kingdom followed with 19,764 tourists (10 per cent), while Germany (12,500), China (12,294), and Italy (12,247) completed the top five markets.

Other key contributors included France (10,495), Spain (8,843), Australia (7,833), the Netherlands (6,082), and Japan (5,127). Collectively, these top ten markets made up more than 70 per cent of arrivals in August.

From January to August 2025, Sri Lanka recorded a total of 1,566,523 tourist arrivals. India led the way with 325,595 visitors during the first eight months, followed by the United Kingdom (151,141) and the Russian Federation (118,916).

Tourism authorities noted steady year-on-year growth throughout 2025, with arrivals in August 2018 and 2024 standing at 200,359 and 164,609, respectively. This highlights a strong recovery trajectory for the sector despite global economic and travel challenges. (Newswire)

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Over 232,000 tourist arrivals have been reported in February 2025, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). 

The latest report of the SLTDA states a total of 232,341 tourist arrivals were reported from 01- 27 February 2025.

The highest number of tourist arrivals, amounting to 34,006, were from India, followed by 29,241 from Russia, and 24,830 from the United Kingdom.

Tourist arrivals were also reported from Germany, France, China, Australia, Poland, the United States, and the Netherlands during this period.

According to the SLTDA, the tourist arrivals recorded in February 2025 are slightly less than the arrivals (252,761) recorded in January 2025.

Sri Lanka has reported 485,102 tourist arrivals in the first two months of this year. (Newswire)

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Former tourism minister Harin Fernando has applauded Sri Lanka’s achievement of welcoming its 02 millionth tourist arrival today.

Taking to ‘X’, Harin Fernando said a target of 02 million was set for 2024 and the authorities have managed to achieve it. 

He further expressed hope that the government will be able to achieve the target of 2.5 million tourist arrivals for 2025 set by the previous government. 

“Delighted to see what we predicted for 2024 has become a reality, hard work paid off as we started with zero tourists, v limited airlines flying into Sri Lanka and ended 2022 with 709,000 arrivals, as predicted in 2023 target was 1.5 mil tourist and ended up with 1,489,000 arrivals, 2024 was 2 million and great achievement with all involved, kudos to the industry and Sri Lanka tourism staff, wish the new government to continue the good work as r target a realistic one for 2025 was 2.5 million all the best the everyone involved, Sri Lanka can #greateecovery #congratulations2M,” Harin Fernando said in a message on ‘X’. (Newswire)

Delighted to see what we predicted for 2024 has become a reality , hard work paid off as we started with zero tourist , v limited airlines flying in to Sri Lanka and ended 2022 with 709,000 arrivals , as predicted in 2023 target was 1.5 mil tourist and ended up with 1,489,000… pic.twitter.com/4jsjkNk4Yc

— Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) December 26, 2024

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Sri Lanka recorded its two millionth tourist arrival today, according to Sri Lanka Tourism. 

Sri Lanka Tourism revealed that the feat was achieved following the arrival of a couple from Thailand. 

Sri Lanka Tourism data reports a total of 1,966,256 tourist arrivals have been reported from January to 22 December 2024.

A total of 161,383 tourist arrivals were recorded from 01-22 December 2024, with the highest number of tourists from India (35,131).

Tourist arrivals were also reported from Russia (22,637), the United Kingdom (12,822), Germany (9,998), Australia (8,646), China (6,998), the United States (5,009), Maldives (4,007), France (4,000), and Poland (3,679) during this period.

Full SLTDA report : https://www.sltda.gov.lk/storage/common_media/WeeklyReportDECEMBER-01-22.pdf (Newswire)

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