Tourism arrivals reach 99,955 for period Sep.1 to 25

The Sri Lankan tourism sector, which received the much needed government support by moving back to the previous visa system operated by Mobitel instead of the controversial CFS system, recorded 99,955 arrivals from September 1 to 25, 2024. Total arrival today for 2024 stood at 1,462,623 just short of around 22,000 to overrun the total arrival mark of 1,487,303 recorded in 2023. With a round average 4,000 arrivals per day this is to be achieved at the end of the week.

For the month of September 2024, India was the top tourism source market with 21,607 arrivals and accounting for 21.6%.  United Kingdom (7,496 -7.4%), Germany (6,951 – 6.9%) and China (6,640 – 6.6%) were in second, third and fourth place respectively.

So far in 2024, Sri Lanka has entertained 280,279 Indian guests and 135,272 British tourists.

Meanwhile, oldest chamber in Sri Lanka the Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka and the country’s two largest travel associations Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and Tourist Hotels Association (THASL) has thanked President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the Minister for Public Security, Vijitha Herath for taking quick steps towards the re – introduction of the online Electronic Platform (ETA) platform.

On behalf of the tourism Industry, we are indeed very thankful, to the President, (to whom we wrote on this matter, earlier this week) for ensuring that the Supreme Court order was carried out without any delay, no sooner they assumed office,” the two Associations said.

“Tourism is the number 1 net foreign exchange earner to the country and this move would help the industry to achieve its targets.”

The two associations recall that the ETA which was in operation since 2012 was hailed as being one of the most efficient and effective in the region but was abruptly stopped in April 2024 and a new system VFS, introduced which had a huge negative impact on tourist arrivals. “We thank the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka for their directive of August 2 2024, to reinstate the ETA system that was operational, prior to April 17 2024. However, there was an undue delay in the Supreme Court order being carried out, which created a lot of confusion and revenue loss to the country, due to the lack of an online platform to obtain an ETA,” the two associations recalled.

Meanwhile, the Ceylon Chamber said they commend the new administration for swiftly resolving the visa on arrival issue by reinstating the Electronic Travel Authorization system. The tourism industry has been gravely concerned about this matter impacting the positive growth momentum of the sector,” they said in a release.

A guest posing with the Cultural troupe at the KIA during Tourism day celebrations on Friday.