Sri Lanka’s tourism revenues grew more than triple to $152.2 million in September 2023 from a year earlier, as the arrivals have gradually picked up, official data show.
The tourism revenue numbers are based on a survey conducted by the tourism promotion office and released by the central bank.
Estimated tourism revenues for September was $152.2 million, up from $40.5 million in the same month a year earlier.
The revenues for the first eight month was $1,456.7 million, 66.8 percent up from $873.1 million in the same period in 2022.
September arrivals also more than tripled to 111,938, compared to last year’s 29,802, while total foreign visitors to the island nation crossed 1 million mark for this year in September. The island nation has witnessed 1.02 million 1,016,256 in the first nine months of this year, 93.1 percent up from 526,232 recorded in the same period last year, the official data showed.
The tourism arrival was hit by violence in the June quarter of 2022 after then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters brutally attacked unarmed protesters on May 9 to evict them from prolonged protest sites in capital Colombo.
Later, the violence spread throughout the country with some targeted ruling politicians and damaged their houses and properties. The uncertainty after the change of the country’s president in an unprecedented manner also took a toll on the leisure industry which contributed 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) at its peak.
