Sri Lanka recorded over 70,000 tourist arrivals in the first 17 days of September, according to provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). From 1 to 17 September, a total of 70,678 international visitors entered the island, pushing the year-to-date arrivals to 1.43 million.
However, the average daily arrivals have dropped to around 4,000. This decline is largely attributed to ongoing issues with the visa system for tourists and businesses, as well as the recent Presidential election, which resulted in Anura Kumara Dissanayake being elected as the new leader of the country.
Officials from Sri Lanka Tourism told Mirror Business that there has been little progress in resolving the visa issue. Despite repeated warnings about the impact on the tourism sector, no firm actions have been taken to revert to the SLT-Mobitel managed system, which had previously been in place.
In September, India has emerged as the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka, accounting for 20.7% of total arrivals. The United Kingdom and Germany follow, contributing 7.9% and 7.2% of arrivals, respectively. China ranks fourth with 6.2% of the total visitors. Tourist numbers from China are expected to rise in the coming months as Air China prepares to launch daily flights to Colombo.