November records the highest number of 'arrivals' ...post April 2019
176,984 tourists arrived to Sri Lanka during the month of November 2019.
When compared to the 195,582 tourists who came in November 2018, this represents a 9.5% decline - same-month / year-on-year, and, is a continuation of eight straight months of negative growth since the dastardly Easter Sunday attacks.
The positive takeaway from November’s performance is that , for the 1st time since May 2019, the declining comparative monthly arrivals figures between 2018 and 2019, has slowly but surely whittled down to a single digit change. Another notable feature is that November recorded the highest number of tourists arrivals in the post - April period todate.
According to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA); year-to date arrivals up to November was 1.672 million, down from 2.08 million or 19.6%, from a year earlier.
The data released for November 2019, sans the usual breakdown of arrival figures by markets (Top 5 countries, etc.) by SLTDA, is apparently due to the team responsible for compiling the monthly report having gone abroad on a study tour to Australia.
Ending October 2019, a total 274,883 Indians (down 19%) over 2018, 161,754 British (down 21%) ,China with 134,903 visitors (down 40%), Germans totaling 101,706 (down 16%) and French tourists numbering 75,942 ( down 16%) were our top 5 markets. These figures have no doubt changed after November.
The country originally planned for 2.5 million tourist arrivals for 2019 in comparison to the 2.3 million visitors recorded in 2018. This target was revised in August to around 2 to 2.1 million tourists. The thinking at that time was that the total arrivals in 2019 over 2018, after the recovery efforts put-in-place, can be contained to a 10% decline. The signs are that total tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka might just close to 1.9 million visitors.
Report compiled by in2ition |
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