Sri Lanka tourism: September 2018 sees 4,010 more tourists than in September 2017
September 2018 saw a 2.8 % increase in Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals compared to the same period last year. The month recorded 149,087 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 145,077 that arrived in September 2017.
In September 2017, tourist arrivals declined by 2.3 percent compared to the same month in 2016. Thus, the rise in tourist arrivals in September 2018 can be considered as, somewhat of a recovery. One can’t however dismiss the fact that there was a mere 638 more ‘arrivals’ this September over 148,449 total in September 2016’. It appears that Sri Lanka tourism’s ‘Ides of March’ is now in September.
As at 30th September 2018, 1,731,922 tourists had visited Sri Lanka for this year. It is an 11.6% growth over last year when 1,551,931 tourists had visited the country during the same nine-month period.
Unsurprisingly, the largest source of tourist traffic received in September 2018 originated from Asia and Pacific - contributing 47% of the month’s total traffic. Asia and Pacific continued to be the largest ‘arrivals’ source during the non-peak months of April, May and June as well.
India, China, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany were Sri Lanka's top five international tourist generating markets in the month of September this year.
India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 22% of the total traffic received in September 2018. China accounted for 13% of the total traffic, while United Kingdom, Australia and Germany accounted for 9%, 6% and 6% respectively.
There were 6,310 visitors from Australia boosted perhaps by Sri Lankan airlines direct flights to Melbourne. But then again, the country received 5,997 Australians in September 2016 at a time there was no direct air connectivity between Colombo and Melbourne.
The UK’s daily Mall reports that more Australians are opting for holidays in Sri Lanka as opposed to Bali in Indonesia and Bangkok in Thailand. Arrivals in the first eight months were 70,010 whilst in the entirety of 2017, the figure was 81,281. This augurs well and the momentum can be maintained to beyond February 2019 with the visit of the Australian national cricket team in January 2019, provided the SLTDA carry’s out an effective marketing plan down under.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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