Over 56,000 tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in the first 16 days of April

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka for the first 16 days of April topped 56,000, bringing the total number of international visitors entering Sri Lanka for the year closer to the 400,000 mark.

Provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that for the April 1 to 16 period, the island nation welcomed 56,402 visitors.

The daily arrival average for the second week of April was about 3500, a dip compared with the 4,000 level it was in the first week of the month as the winter season is coming to a close.

The third week of the month, however, is witnessing a lower momentum as from 15 April the arrival numbers are in the 2,000 level.

Accordingly, the cumulative tourist arrivals from January 01 to April 16 stand at 392,018. Topping the list as the largest source market for Sri Lanka is neighbouring giant India which has taken over the position from the Russian Federation.

India has contributed to 17 percent of the total arrivals for the month of April so far.

Moving down to second place is the Russian Federation which accounted for 14 percent of the total arrivals.

In third place is the United Kingdom which contributed to 9 percent of the total arrivals. The contribution from Germany (9 percent) to Sri Lanka tourism is similar to that of the UK, but only slightly lower in numbers.

Other key source markets include France, Australia, the United States, Canada, China, and Israel.