2024 ends with 2.053 million tourist arrivals.
India, Russia and UK ranked as top three tourist source markets for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka recorded its third highest annual tourist arrivals in 2024, welcoming 2,053,465 visitors. Although slightly below the forecast of 2.3 million arrivals, this represents a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 38.07 percent.
The cumulative tourist arrivals for the year 2024 reached 2.053 million. Sri Lanka recorded the highest number of tourists in 2018, with 2.3 million international visitors. The second highest number was recorded in 2017, with 2.1 million tourists.
The island nation struggled to cross the 3 million mark in 2018 due to multiple crises. After surpassing one million annual arrivals in 2012, the country reached the two million mark in just four years in 2016.
India remained the largest contributor in 2024, with 416,974 arrivals, a significant increase from 302,844 the previous year. Russia came in second with 198,601 arrivals, up slightly from 197,498 in 2023. The United Kingdom came in third with 178,339 visitors, up from 130,088 in 2023. Germany and China also crossed the 100,000 mark, recording 100,001, respectively. Notably, the Netherlands entered the top ten source markets, while Canada dropped out of the list. Other notable contributors included Australia, France, the United States and the Maldives.
Meanwhile, for the month of December, tourist arrivals recorded a year-on-year growth of 18.18%, reaching 248,592 tourists.
However, this figure was nearly 8,000 short of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority’s (SLTDA) optimistic monthly forecast of 256,389. This marked a steady trend throughout the year, with monthly arrivals failing to meet SLTDA’s ambitious targets. However, the authority maintained its original annual forecast of 2.3 million tourists until the end of the year.
India continued to dominate as the leading source market, contributing 52,881 arrivals in December alone. Russia followed closely behind with 35,268 visitors, while the United Kingdom came in third with 18,757. Germany came in fourth with 14,703 visitors, while Australia rounded out the top five with 13,109 arrivals. Other notable source markets included China, the United States, Maldives, France and Poland.
