Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has witnessed a robust start to 2025, welcoming over 300,000 visitors so far, reinforcing the sector’s strong growth trajectory. The first week of February alone recorded more than 50,000 arrivals, with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) confirming that 44,293 visitors arrived in just the first five days of the month.
The average daily arrivals reached 8,859, surpassing last year’s figure of 8,282 for the same period. Encouraged by the sector’s performance in 2024, the SLTDA has set an ambitious target of 310,937 visitors for February, following January’s record-breaking 252,761 arrivals. However, despite January achieving the highest number of monthly visitors ever recorded, it fell short of the initial projection of 305,687 tourists by 52,926 visitors.
India, Russia, the UK, China, and Germany have emerged as the top five source markets for February, with strong inflows also recorded from France, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands, and Bangladesh.
With tourism numbers on the rise, the industry remains optimistic about sustaining the upward trend. Attention is now focused on whether Sri Lanka’s much-anticipated global tourism campaign will launch within this month. Initially planned for January 2025, the campaign aims to move beyond short-term promotional taglines to establish a cohesive national tourism brand. This strategic shift is expected to enhance the country’s global appeal and maximize return on investment (RoI) in the tourism sector.
