June 2025 arrivals to Sri Lanka jump 21.8% over same month last year
As per the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), a total of 138,241 tourists arrived in the country in June 2025. This is an increase of 21.8% in comparison to the numbers that arrived in June, last year.
According to the June’25 data released by the SLTDA, a total of 37,934 tourists arrived from India which accounts to 27.4%. Furthermore, 11,628 persons from the United Kingdom (8.4%), 8,804 from China (6.4%), 7,299 from Australia (5.3%), 6,833 Pakistanis (4.9%) and 5,826 Bangladeshis (4.2%) making it the top six in terms of visitors by country.
Visitors from neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh had increased, possibly due to an international Dawoodhi Bohra convention taking place in the island’s capital Colombo, and the cricket match series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with the former playing host.
The total number of tourist arrivals in the first half of 2025 stands at 1,168,044 – up 15.6% year-on-year. Compared to the benchmark year of 2018, the country has registered a marginal 0.29% growth, welcoming 3,397 more visitors.
Among them, 241,994 individuals are from India - reinforcing India’s status as Sri Lanka’s primary tourism market. Following in 2nd place was Russia with 112,312 and UK slotting in at 3rd place with 107,902.
The industry missed the monthly target for the sixth consecutive month in 2025, as June fell short of its monthly target of 177,257 by 39,016 visitors, raising concerns about meeting annual tourism goals.
In the first five months of 2025, the country earned USD 1.543 billion from tourism activities, marking a 9.8% increase compared to the USD 1.4056 billion earned during the same period in 2024.
Sri Lanka Tourism has set an ambitious target of 3 million arrivals and $ 5 billion in revenue for 2025. However, with over 1.16 million visitors so far, the country will need to attract over 1.83 million tourists in the next six months—meaning a steep 61% of the annual target still remains to be achieved. This also translates to a requirement of around 305,000 tourists per month for the remainder of the year; nearly double the current monthly average of 195,000.
Industry analysts caution that meeting this target will be challenging given the current realities. The long-awaited nation branding campaign has yet to materialise, while a proposed free-visa scheme for 39 countries solved as far back as August 2024 remains mired in bureaucratic delays.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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