SL crosses 2.3 m tourist arrivals

Welcomes 195,394 tourists in first 25 days of December Requires nearly 149,000 visitors in remaining six days of Dec. to meet monthly target of 344,309 India revs up visitors YTD with over 520,000 tourists, followed by UK and Russia Total arrivals for 2025 likely to exceed 2018's record 2.33 m

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SRI Lanka crossed the 2.3 million tourist arrivals milestone on 26 December, marking its strongest post-crisis performance and edging towards passing the 2018 record of 2.33 million visitors.

As per Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) data up to 25 December, cumulative arrivals stood at 2,298,987, with the 2.3 million mark crossed the following day.

This places 2025 marginally ahead of the previous all-time high of 2.33 million visitors recorded in 2018, and around 12% higher than the 2.05 million arrivals recorded in 2024, underlining the sector's recovery momentum.

During the first 25 days of December, Sri Lanka welcomed 195,394 tourists for the month, compared with 191,465 during the same period in December 2024, a growth of just over 2% year-onyear (YoY).

Against a full-month target of 344,309 arrivals, this leaves a gap of nearly 149,000 visitors to be achieved in the final six days of the year. That would require daily arrivals of close to 25,000, from 7,816 at present, making the monthly target mathematically unrealistic.