Over 50,000 tourist arrivals were recorded within the first 10 days of December, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

Accordingly, a total of 57,394 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka between 01 and 10 December, bringing the total count of tourist arrivals in the country for 2023 to 1,334,345.

On 10 December, a group of 8,696 tourists visited Sri Lanka, marking the highest number of tourist arrivals in a single day this year. On that day, three luxury cruise ships had docked at the Colombo Harbour, bringing in more than 4,000 tourists.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported that tourism earnings for November 2023 amounted to USD 205.3 million. As a result, the total tourism earnings for the 11-month period of 2023 reached USD 1,798.7 million.

The month of November saw the highest number of tourist arrivals for the year 2023, with a total of 151,496 arrivals having been documented, indicating a 153.5% increase from the number of tourist arrivals reported in November 2022 (59,759).

Weaker rupee to lead swift tourism industry recovery