Sri Lanka witnessed more tourists coming to Sri Lanka and revenue from the foreign visitors rising to its best since 2018, the Central Bank data showed.
The revenue from tourism increased by 53.2 percent to 3.17 billion dollars last year, compared to 2.07 billion in the previous year.
The 2024 earning from the hospitality industry was the highest since 2018 when the island nation saw its peak tourist arrivals and earnings.
Arrivals also peaked to a six year high of 2.05 million last year.
The industry suffered due to a nosedive in arrivals after Easter Sunday attack on Catholic churches and high end tourist hotels in April 2019, followed by Covid-19 pandemic and an unprecedented economic crisis.
However, the island nation missed the 2024 target of 2.3 million tourists and industry players blamed a sudden change in visa process in April last year and threats of possible attack in the country’s Eastern coast in October last year.
The earnings in December jumped 34.5 percent to 269.1 million dollars. (Colombo/January 11/2025)
