(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) –In the first two months of this year, 178,834 tourists have visited Sri Lanka and the island has been able to earn over US $ 500 million from the tourism industry, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The tourism industry, which collapsed due to the Covid-19 epidemic, is gradually recovering and the Central Bank notes that in the first two months of this year the tourism industry contributed US $ 582.8 million to foreign exchange earnings.
According to the Central Bank, the tourism industry earned US $ 314.5 million in February alone, with 96,507 foreign tourists arriving in the country in the month.
Tourism earnings in February this year were 17.2 percent higher compared to January, and tourism earnings were $ 268.3 million in January, with earnings of $ 3,258.9 per tourist.
As of 28th February 2022, 178,834 international tourists visited Sri Lanka this year. The largest source markets recorded for the month of February were Russia, India, the United Kingdom, and Germany, followed by France.
The Central Bank points out that Sri Lanka’s recovery from the financial crisis depends on the tourism industry.
However, The Central Bank of Sri Lanka states that while the government is taking steps to revive the tourism industry and speed up the revenue generation process, the industry faces some challenges and that the Russian-Ukrainian war has affected the industry.
