Sri Lanka’s monthly tourism earnings have consistently stayed above US$ 160 million a month in 2023 supported by rising arrivals following the end of Covid restrictions and the gradual recovery in the island nation’s economy.
Sri Lanka received US$ 166.5 million in earnings from tourism, the second largest foreign currency earning source to Sri Lanka’s current account after workers’ remittances.
The April inflows brought the cumulative tourism income to US$ 696.3 million in the first four months of the year, up 17.8 percent from the same period in 2022.
China’s reopening in early January is adding a new impetus to the long-battered industry in Sri Lanka from Easter attacks in 2019 to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 to the economic crisis in 2022.
Tourism authorities are getting ready to kick off promotional campaigns in China while the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines began operating weekly flights to China from April.
Sri Lanka in early April said it was raising the 2023 tourist arrivals target to 2.0 million tourists from the original 1.55 million. In March Sri Lanka welcomed 125,495 tourists and 105,498 in April, bringing the cumulative arrivals to 441,177 in the four months.
Sri Lanka Travel Feneteko