After a disappointing June, tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka surged in July, with the country welcoming 187,810 foreign visitors. This marks a 31.3 percent increase from a year ago, partly driven by the Dawoodi Bohra International Convention held in Colombo from July 7 to 19, which attracted approximately 15,000 foreign visitors.
July’s tourist numbers represent a significant improvement compared to June when growth slowed to just 13 percent, the lowest of the year. However, the country still fell short of its target range of 203,474 to 220,599 arrivals for July and remained below the 217,829 arrivals recorded in July 2018.
India remained the largest source of arrivals, accounting for 22.9 percent of the total, followed by the UK at 11.1 percent and China at 6.9 percent. The Netherlands and Germany occupied the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Notably, Russia fell out of the top 10 source markets for the first time this year, and the Maldives, which had been in the top 10 in recent months, was also absent.
By the end of July, cumulative tourist arrivals reached 1,198,059, with India leading at 225,641 arrivals, followed by Russia with 118,682 and the United Kingdom with 110,189. Despite falling short of targets so far, Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities remain optimistic about achieving the annual target of 2.3 million arrivals.