Sri Lanka Tourism confident of exceeding 2023 arrival target
The Morning: The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) said that Sri Lanka Tourism is confident of exceeding the target arrival of 1.5 million tourists for the year 2023.
Speaking at a recent press conference, SLTPB Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu said: “You all know that a few days ago, we were able to achieve 1.1 million tourist arrivals. We are sure that we will be able to achieve this year’s target.”
He noted that the period between November and December is a tourist season; thus, receiving three to four lakhs of arrivals is not going to be problematic, as the monthly average of one lakh during even the off-season in 2023 has been surpassed.
“Therefore, there is no such thing as an off-season,” Gajabahu reiterated.
According to statistics of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the number of tourists who have come to Sri Lanka in October this year is 109,199.
In the month of October, the largest number of tourists came from India and the number was 28,222. Apart from this, 10,629 tourists came from Russia, 8,454 from the United Kingdom (UK), 7,548 from Germany, and 6,211 from China.
Accordingly, the total number of tourists who arrived in Sri Lanka in the first 10 months of this year is 1,125,455.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is once again on a steady growth path with a steady increase in tourist arrivals to the country. The industry has once again become a key revenue generator for Sri Lanka after suffering many setbacks since the global pandemic and the economic crisis that followed. The growth in the tourism indicates is not seen only in the number of arrivals to the country, but also in the increase in the number of flights operated by international airlines to Sri Lanka to accommodate the increasing number of travelers. All these are indicative of the expanding business/investment opportunities in the tourism industry. Most opportunities are seen in the leisure and hospitality sectors. There are also business/investment opportunities coming up in development programmers in the tourism industry as well as in the development of supplementary infrastructure facilities required by the tourism industry. The growing business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has already attracted many foreign businesses/investors and international leisure and hospitality brands to explore business/investment opportunities in this industry. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore confidently explore the expanding opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20231114/Z_4 |