Sri Lanka Tourism, the second highest Foreign exchange earner to the country is seeing a continuous growth in Tourism arrivals when compared with Pre Pandemic levels. The year 2018 was considered to be the best year for Sri Lanka Tourism. However, the current year with upwelling Tourist arrivals have made the Tourism Industry experiencing increase in revenue and also creating more employment opportunities.

As at February 13th 2024, 306,708 tourist arrivals have been recorded, and it is anticipated that it will further increase. January 2024 saw a surge of tourist arrivals which were marked as 208,253, where the top 3 markets included India, Russia and UK. Sri Lanka Tourism is very confident that the set target of 2.3 million tourists in 2024 or even more can be achieved with all stakeholders working towards this objective.

With continuous promotional efforts by Sri Lanka Tourism and stakeholders the Tourism sector has seen a considerable growth in the recent times. Growth in the European sector is highlighted, as they also stay for longer periods. 

Sri Lanka Tourism also participated in several foreign tourism fairs this year, including the Vakantiebeurs Travel Fair which was held from 10th to 14th January, in Jaarbeurs, Utrecht, Netherlands, followed by FITUR, held from Jan 24th to 28th 2024, in Madrid , Spain . These International fairs were followed by BIT Milan held in Italy from 4th -6th February 2024, and then OTM fair in Mumbai from 8th to 10th February 2024, Sri Lanka as a destination was well received. 

Plans are underway to take part in SATTE Fair in New Delhi next week and ITB , the biggest Travel show in Germany  next month, from 5th – 7th ,March 2024. 

The SLTPB also initiated a social media campaign from January to April 2024 Specifically targeting many source markets by highlighting many attractions to further promote the destination. SLTPB sought the assistance of social media influencers to promote Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Tourism has also invited mega culinary travel influencer Luke Martin from Chopstick Travel to explore culinary treasures of Sri Lanka. With over 4 million global social media followings from USA, UK, India and Australia, Luke visited Sri Lanka for the 3rd time and he is expecting to create various social media content on the destination, and is planning to visit Sri Lanka again in the near future. His most recent vlog about Sri Lanka ( in collaboration with SLTPB ) has viewed over 35 million people globally:  Watch the video.

The phase 01 of the check in Campaign (short term) already started in India in September last year, Germany and France in December 2023, and the process is underway to commence the long term campaign in UK, Germany, France, India and China. The PR campaign and a digital campaign are scheduled. 

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau along with the European Union ( EU ) will be embarking  on the wellness tourism project by inviting 30 Influencers from Germany and France on familiarization tours commencing 15th February on five different tours.  Further, A microsite on wellness tourism in English, French and German languages will be launched on 15th February incorporating the offers by Industry stakeholders.

2024 kicked off with some important endorsements for Sri Lanka, including the Pekoe Trail which was listed as the National Geographic’s best coveted ‘’Best of the World for 2024’’. It was also recognized by the British Guild of Travel Writers at the International Awards UK where Sri Lanka was presented with the Pekoe Trail Award which was another achievement for Sri Lanka Tourism. 

Further adding a few more feathers in Sri Lanka’s cap the destination, The UAE-based Travel Off Path has listed Sri Lanka as one of the fastest-growing tourism destinations in 2024. Noting that Sri Lanka is regularly ranked as one of the value for money locations for digital nomads. 

The new positioning for the destination is – Sri Lanka- You’ll come back for more’’ which gives a sense of confidence to the traveler, which invokes curiosity to explore the destination more, and also gives everything in a nutshell – diversity, compactness, and authencity, which will make tourists come back for more ‘’. 

Thus Sri Lanka Tourism believes that this positive surge will enable Sri Lanka to achieve the 2.3 million tourist arrivals this year or even more – with the positive surge of tourist arrivals seen from the beginning of 2024.