Tourist arrivals and earnings experienced a strong recovery last year, with Sri Lanka among the top tourist destinations globally due to relative political stability, economic recovery, destination marketing and its diverse and differentiated offerings for global tourists

According to the latest data, Sri Lanka received 248,592 visitors in December 2024, which helped it earn US$ 362.1 million for the month. Earnings in December were significantly higher than the US$269.3 million generated in the same month in 2023 and the US$272.9 million in November, reflecting a strong start to the winter arrival season.
Total tourist arrivals in December rose to 2,053,465, a 38.1 percent increase from 1,487,303 in 2023.

Due to these high arrivals, the country was able to earn a cumulative earnings of US$ 3,168.6 million, a 53.2 percent increase over 2023 earnings.

Although projected earnings for 2024 ranged from US$3.0 billion to US$3.5 billion, arrivals for the year were slightly different from the expected 2.3 million.

Sri Lanka last recorded high numbers from the industry in 2019, where 1.91 million arrived and generated earnings of US$3.6 billion. The record high was 2.33 million in 2018, earning US$4.4 billion. Since then, the industry has failed to resume or improve its operations due to ongoing crises following the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. The economic crisis in Sri Lanka, caused by a pandemic that closed many borders globally, led to a full-blown social and political crisis that extended the industry’s recovery by another two years.

In 2024 too, the industry faced minor setbacks such as the sudden change in the visa process in April and threats of possible terror attacks on the country’s east coast later that year, which did not weigh much on the sector’s progress.

The authorities expect to generate US$5.0 billion from the expected 3.0 million arrivals in 2025, which is very close to attainable in the absence of any external factors that would derail the continued progress of the industry.