Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in August 2024 take a sharp dip
Visitors in August plunged furthest away from the month’s target of 202,907 with a 38,298 shortfall representing a 19% deficit between actual and forecast. This was the largest loss seen so far during the year - surpassing the 35,225 deficit recorded in June 2024.
Many industry stakeholders reckon the government’s entanglement with the visa fiasco to have triggered the slump since then. Scrambling to control the ensuing damage, and the lengthy queues of foreigners waiting long for the only available way-in to the island, (via pay-for-visa on arrival) at the airport, the government has moved swiftly to pass the proposal that was submitted several months ago, to offer 35 countries visa-free entry with effect from 1st October 2024 for six months. This too, perhaps, as a damage control measure, after realising that the self-inflicted visa imbroglio which raised a howl of protests and legal censure, will mean potentially falling short of achieving the targeted 2.36 million total visitors to the country in 2024.
For that to now happen, only time will tell whether this delayed reaction is sufficient to attract a further total 997,000 tourist during the remaining four months (Sept – Dec) this year.
Notwithstanding the enfolding drama, both, the Director General, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and the Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, stated at a press conference held as recent as on 18th August, that the country will achieve the 2.3 million tourist target for 2024, with the SLTDA Director General further claiming that the industry will move up the ladder to be the second highest forex earner to the country by earning an income of over USD 4.3 billion, by the end of this year.(Tourism earnings in the first six months have passed the USD 1.5 billion mark.)
Meanwhile, India continued to account for the largest source of arrivals in the month of August, with 33,031 arrivals, followed by the UK (17,587) and China (11,333). Germany and Italy occupied the fourth and fifth positions accordingly. Russia with 4,351 arrivals returned to the ‘top 10’ list.
The cumulative tourist arrivals reached 1,362,668 tourists for the period 1st January to 31st August. India took the top spot with 258,672 and the UK overtook Russia as the second largest source market for the first time this year, with 127,776 arrivals. Russia fell to the third spot, with 123,033 arrivals.
According to Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin, 40 million Indian people traveled abroad and 80% of them went to Southeast Asia or to the Middle East last year. If he is correct, and assuming that 50% of last year’s outbound Indians went to SE countries, the arrivals to SE Asia this year well surpass 16 million Indian travelers. In which case, the total 400,000 plus total Indians that are likely to visit Sri Lanka in 2024 is a mere drop in the influx of tourists from the sub-continent.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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