August arrivals slip despite YoY growth

SRI Lanka welcomed 198,235 tourists in August, recording a 20.4% year-on-year (YoY) increase, but performance slipped against expectations, falling short of the monthly target and trailing both July 2025 and the 2018 benchmark.

- CHARUMINI DE SILVA

Arrivals in August met only 79.6% of the official monthly target of 249,019, leaving a shortfall of 50,784 visitors. The tally also dipped below July’s 200,244 and was narrowly behind August 2018 by 2,124 travellers, signalling that momentum is softening at a critical point in the year.

Despite the miss, cumulative arrivals for 2025 reached over 1.56 million (1,566,523), registering 13% YoY growth. However, to meet the ambitious target set by Sri Lanka Tourism to reach 3 million visitors by year-end, the country must now attract an additional 1,433,477 travellers in just four months. This means monthly arrivals would need to average 358,369—an 81% jump from August’s actual performance and far above the country’s historical peaks.

The weekly arrivals show a front-loaded boost from the Kandy Esala Perahera, which lifted the first week's footfall to 54,217, followed by 53,176 in the second week. However, the third and fourth weeks saw declines to 44,442 and 46,400, respectively, underscoring a tapering trend once the festival crowds departed. The daily average stood at 6,395 tourists, up 20.4% from 5,310 in August 2024, but still not strong enough to bridge the widening gap with annual targets.