Sri Lanka records over 77,000 tourist arrivals in first 22 days of October

Tourists take pictures of a herd of elephants at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP via Getty Images).
In the first 22 days of October, Sri Lanka welcomed 77,763 tourists, bringing the year-to-date total to 1,094,019, according to provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
During this period, the daily average of tourist arrivals was 3,534, showing an improvement compared to the previous week’s average of 3,359.
The weekly average for the third week of October has also seen an increase, reaching 31,265, up from 23,434 in the second week and 23,073 in the first week.
Despite this progress, Sri Lanka has achieved 53 percent of the arrival target set for October by tourism authorities, which stands at 147,789 arrivals.
As in previous months, India remains the largest source of tourist arrivals for Sri Lanka, contributing 26 percent of the total arrivals with 20,369 visitors.
The Russian Federation ranks second, accounting for 9 percent with 7,089 visitors, followed by the United Kingdom at 8 percent with 6,287 international visitors.
Other notable markets include Germany, China, Australia, Maldives, the United States, France, and Spain.
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