April 2023's, 105,498 tourist arrivals takes Sri Lanka's visitor count to 441,177 - YTD
Sri Lanka Tourism is witnessing a continuation of the resurgence of tourist arrivals as 105,498 international visitors arrived during the month of April 2023. The destination also saw the cumulative arrivals cross the 400,000 mark on April 20, with the numbers for January 01 to date totaling 441,177.
The majority of the tourists’ arrivals last month were from India and Russia. The two countries alone contributed 33 percent of the month’s total arrivals. Accordingly, a total of 19,915 tourists arrived in the country from India while the number of tourist who arrived from Russia was 14,556.
Neighbouring India regained the number 1 slot in the country’s ‘’Top 5’ list, as the largest tourist traffic generator for destination Sri Lanka, relegating Russia who held that position during the past several months.
The United Kingdom with 8,743 took the 3rd place slot followed by Germany with 7,404 visitors from that country. Other notable markets included France (5,535) and China (5,118), in that order. Australia, the US, Canada and Japan were the other contributors, whilst 29, 563 tourists came from other countries.
A total 441,177 tourists during the period January to April this year signals the country’s robust recovery since the double whammy it received – first from COVID and soon thereafter as it plunged into bankruptcy.
Tourist arrivals from India are expected to further expand in the coming months, as efforts are underway to carry out focused promotions. The first initiative is the rolling out of the ‘Three Cities Road show’ in India, which kicked off yesterday. The event is held from April 24 to 28, in Chennai, Cochin and Bangalore. The second is the hosting of the convention of the Travel Agents Association of India, which is expected to take place in the second quarter of this year.
The target audience at these road shows was to be Tour Operators, Media, Key Influencers, Corporates, Trade Associations and key Tourism Industry stakeholders in India. A delegation led by the Minister of Tourism, consisting of over 30 Sri Lankan Travel Agencies, hotels and key officials representing SLTPB, SLCB participated at this event.
Meanwhile Sri Lankan airlines is considering adding three more cities in the sub continent including Ahmadabad, to their current network 9 cities in India.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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