Over 80% of August tourist arrival target reached – SLTDA
Two women hikers wearing backpacks on vacation at Sigiriya in central Sri Lanka. (Photo Credit: Billy Hustace)
Over 80 percent of the tourist arrival target set for August has been reached in the first 27 days of the month.
This was revealed by the provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
From August 01 to 27, Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 123,285 international visitors. With the daily arrival average currently being 4,566, it is likely the island nation will end the month with about 142,000-145,000 visitors.
If the daily arrivals do not pick up pace in the coming days, it is likely Sri Lanka will miss realising the target of 149,075 set for August.
While week one of August recorded 35,775, the fourth week of August (22-27) saw arrivals reduced to 20,273. In the previous week, it was 29,347.
The drop can be attributed to the end of summer holidays for schools, thus the ending of the vacation period for families with children.
Maintaining the position as the largest tourist traffic generator was India, bringing in 26,227 tourists, during the period under review.
The United Kingdom ranked second, bringing in 14,236 tourists and ranking third was China, bringing in 8,641 visitors.
The other key markets include Germany, the Russian Federation, France and Italy.
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