A record-breaking 279,328 tourists arrived to Sri Lanka in February 2026
According to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), this marks the highest number of tourists to visit the country in a single calendar month in Sri Lanka’s history.
The highest number of tourist arrivals in a single day occurred on February 12, 2026, when 12,731 tourists arrived in the country within that day. The figures also show an increase of 16.2% compared to February 2025.
India’s tourism numbers in Sri Lanka continue to consistently outpace other countries, with 47,679 visitors (17% of total arrival), in February 2026. However, during the record-creating month, and, despite Sri Lanka co-hosting the ICC 2026 T20 Cricket World Cup involving foreign participating teams and their supporters, as well as the sell-out India vs. Pakistan encounter in Colombo, the total number of Indian arrivals last month fell well-short of the 56,715 Indian travelers in December 2025.
Other countries contributing significant numbers of visitors included the United Kingdom with 30,788 tourists (11%), Russia with 23,099 (8%), 22,566 (8%) tourists from Germany, China with 20,180 (7%) and French visitors totaling 17,174 (6%). Making up the rest of the ‘Top 10’ were Poland, Australia, USA and the Netherlands, in that order.
Batik Air resumes Colombo-Kuala Lumpur flights from 30 March with four weekly services.
Malaysian Airline will be the third carrier to adapt self-check-in at Sri Lanka’s main Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with an aim to speed the check-in process with minimum labour involved, two Airport sources said. The process will be completed within the next couple of months.
State-owned Sri Lankan Airlines has already rolled out 20 additional self-check-in counters at the BIA through the ground handling unit, Airport and Ground Services, while Singapore Airlines has also started the self-check-in.
The BIA, which has the capacity to handle 6 million passengers a month, managed 9.9 million passengers in 2025 thanks to additional temporary and self-check-in counters. The airport handled a peak of 10.7 million passengers in 2018 and is now targeting 15 million passengers per year once the ongoing terminal expansion and new apron works are fully commissioned by 2027–2028.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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