Sri Lanka achieves 2019 tourist arrival targets
Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities have reportedly stated that despite 2019 being a tough year for the country’s tourism industry, Sri Lanka has achieved the revised tourists’ arrival target for 2019 which stands at 1,913,702 as of December 31, 2019.
The local media quoting official data has stated that it is a decline of 18 percent from 2018 when 2,333,796 of tourists had visited the country during the same period.
The initial projection for the year 2019 was 2.5 million tourists, but was later revised by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) due to the Easter Sunday tragedy last April.
The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during December 2019 was 241,663, the highest recorded for 2019, reports state.
However, in comparison to December last year, there was a decline of 4.5% when the arrivals were 253,169.
In December 2019, the largest source markets for tourists to Sri Lanka were India, followed by the United Kingdom and Russia.
OSL take:
The achievement of revised targets for 2019 by Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is yet another indication of the industry’s impressive return to normalcy following the setback suffered in the Easter Sunday attacks last April. Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is the fastest growing economic sector in the country with a steady growth in tourist arrivals to the country as well as an increaing inflow of foreign direct investments to the industry. Sri Lanka continues to occupy prominence in many lists on must visit destinations in the world compiled by globally renowned travel publications. Therefore, foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200116/Z_1 |