CT CLSA, a prominent financial advisory and investment banking service provider based in Colombo, has revised down its tourist arrivals target for Sri Lanka by 11 percent, citing a noticeable decrease in daily arrivals.
In an industry update, CT CLSA announced that it has lowered the tourist arrival target for 2023 to 1.4 million. Consequently, the projected income has also been adjusted to US$ 1.9 billion, down from the previous estimate of US$ 3 billion.
On the other hand, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) recently expressed confidence that not only will Sri Lanka meet its 1.55 million arrivals target for the year, but it will also surpass it.
In terms of earnings, the local tourism sector has generated revenue of US$ 1.5 billion in the first nine months of the year.
CT CLSA justified its downward revision by highlighting that the average daily arrivals had decreased by 5 percent to 3,535 in the first 22 days of October 2023. In September, the average daily arrivals were 3,731.
However, CT CLSA also noted a significant increase in daily tourist arrivals on October 20, 21, and 22, 2023, totaling 13,446 arrivals, with a daily average of 4,482 arrivals (compared to the 3,385 arrivals in the first 19 days of October 2023.
“Therefore, we expect higher daily arrivals during the last two months of 2023 due to the winter season, coupled with the free Visa policy,” CT CLSA stated.
For 2024, CT CLSA’s target of 2.2 million tourist arrivals with earnings of US$ 3.8 billion remains unchanged.
Cabinet approval was granted this week to for immediate visa-free entry to travellers from seven significant tourist-generating markets—India, China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand. The government said the pilot project will remain in effect until March 31, 2024.
These seven countries accounted for 40 percent of total tourist arrivals in the first nine months of 2023. Their contribution in 2018, the last normal year for Sri Lankan tourism, was 36 percent.
