(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –According to official data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals during 2018 has registered a healthy growth of 10.3% reaching to 2.33 billion tourists compared to 2.1 million tourist arrivals in 2017.
In terms of arrivals, the months of March, February, June and November recorded the highest growth rates while the month of December recorded the highest number of arrivals of 253,169 for 2018.
“Although the tourist arrivals for 2018 had fallen slightly short due to the political instability we saw post October 26, I think in terms of earnings we have reached the $ 3.5 billion target, Minister of Tourism Development, John Amaratunga said.
He also added that with Lonely Planet ranking Sri Lanka as the No. 1 destination to travel in 2019 and the new promotional plans, he is optimistic Sri Lanka will receive 4 million tourists and generate an income over $5 billion by the end of 2019
