October's 168,625 arrivals to Sri Lanka nudge past last year October numbers
A total 168,625 International visitors arrived to Sri Lanka in October 2026, representing a marginal 2% increase over the 165,193 tourists who came in October last year.
The arrivals in October 2026, halted the regressive trend of the country, receiving less visitors during July, August and September this year, over that of the total arrivals recorded during the same months, last year.
In October 2026, India emerged once again as the leading tourist-generating market with 62,211 visitors (37% of total arrivals), followed by the UK’s 12,402 visitors (7%), China with11,190 tourists (7%), Australia with 8,509 (5%) and Germany with 8,027 (5%), making up the top 5 visitors to the island, in that order.
The Year-to-date (YTD): arrivals in 2026, totaled 1,862,304 - lagging behind 2025’s YTD total of 1,890,687, by 3.5%.
On an YTD accumulative basis, India leads with 499,625 tourists, followed by the United Kingdom’s 173,129, China with 123,740 visitors, 105,305 tourists from Germany and Australia sending 95,498 visitors. Others to make it to the ‘Top 10’ include, the Russian Federation (89,741), France (83,902), the US (49,435), the Netherlands (43,400) and Bangladesh (37,580).
Looking ahead, the actual arrivals in November and December will indicate whether the record breaking 2,362,521 visitors who came last year will be scaled this year.
SriLankan Faces Competition in Australia:
Its market share fell from 47.55% to 43.11%, despite increasing Colombo-Melbourne frequencies from seven to 10 flights per week on August 2.
Jetstar’s entry on the Melbourne-Colombo route appears to have changed the competitive balance among airlines carrying Australian visitors to Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines is considering a direct service to Perth, which would expand its Australian network beyond Melbourne and Sydney.
Other news
Russia-based Azur Air is scheduled to begin flights to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport from November 2.
French airline French Bee is expected to commence seasonal flights to Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake in December, operating via the Maldives.
Meanwhile, Russia’s S7 Airlines is also scheduled to operate direct flights from Siberia to Katunayake in December, with two flights operating weekly, connecting Novosibirsk in Siberia to Colombo.
Uzbekistan based airline Centrum Air has launched direct flight operations between Tashkent and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. The scheduled service will operate twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, throughout Sri Lanka’s 2026–2027 tourism season.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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