Sri Lanka witnessed a 102.3 percent increase in tourist arrivals during February 2024 compared to the same period last year, welcoming a total of 218,350 visitors.
According to a weekly tourist arrival report by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, such an increase was led by the arrival of Russian tourists, which totaled 32,030, thus surpassing India’s 30,027 arrivals, VisaGuide.World reports.
Not far behind were tourists from the United Kingdom, with 20,614, closely followed by Germany, with 16,259 visitors. China secured fifth place with 14,836 visitors.
This revival of the country’s tourism industry shows that Sri Lanka is recovering from a severe decline experienced during the economic crisis in 2022.
In addition, the surge in arrivals from Russia was boosted, especially in light of reports from the Department of Immigration showing the cancellation of overstayed visas for Russian visitors.
This decision came shortly after widespread condemnation of an event accused of promoting racial discrimination, where only individuals categorized as ‘white’ were allowed to attend.
Russian & Ukrainian Visitors in Sri Lanka Ordered to Depart by March 8, 2024
Between 2022 and 2024, it is reported that over 288,000 Russians and nearly 20,000 Ukrainian nationals went to the South Asian coasts of Sri Lanka. However, Sri Lankan authorities have asked Russian and Ukrainian nationals to leave by March 8, 2024. Beyond exceeding the 30 days set by tourist visas, concerns have also been raised regarding the activities of these citizens during their extended stays.
The weekly report of Sri Lanka Tourism Development also revealed that the period from 1 to February 29 2024, witnessed a significant influx of visitors to Sri Lanka, reaching a total of 218,350. Meanwhile, including the stretch from January 1 to February 29 this year, the island nation recorded 426,603 arrivals.
Regarding visitor origin arrivals, India emerged as the top source market, contributing 64,426 visitors, closely followed by the Russian Federation with 63,189 arrivals. The UK is just a little behind, with 37,279 tourists exploring the wonders of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Hosted 1,487,303 Visitors in 2023
Moreover, Sri Lanka experienced a total influx of 1,487,303 tourists last year. This included 102,545 visitors in January and a slightly higher count of 107,639 arrivals in February.
As Sri Lanka Tourism Development figures point out, in February 2022, 96,507 international tourist arrivals were welcomed.
By the end of February 28 2022, Sri Lanka had recorded 178,834 tourists. Notably, the top source markets for February were Russia, India, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. In this respect, Europe emerged as the dominant source of tourism traffic to Sri Lanka, accounting for 73.3 percent of total revenue in February 2022.