Sri Lanka Tourism Arrivals Slip 0.6% YoY in Mid-July Amid Middle East Aviation Disruptions ✈️

• Arrivals Performance - Recorded 118,935 tourist arrivals in the first 19 days of July, down 0.6% YoY but reflecting a 61.5% MoM rebound compared to June. - Daily average arrivals stood at 6,260, peaking at 7,690 visitors on 18 July. - Year-to-date (YTD) arrivals reached over 1.26 Mn, down 1.72% YoY compared to 1.28 Mn in the same period last year. • Top Source Markets - India remained the largest source market with 27,574 visitors (23% of total arrivals). - Followed by the UK with 12,786 (10%), China with 7,147 (6%), the Netherlands with 6,770 (6%), and Australia with 6,699 (6%). • Macro Context & Sector Targets - Airspace and flight disruptions in the Middle East continue to constrain long-haul European transit routes feeding Sri Lanka’s tourism sector. - Government has fast-tracked a visa-free entry scheme for citizens of 40 countries to boost demand. - Revised 2026 national targets down to 2.5 Mn arrivals and US$ 3.5 Bn in tourism earnings (from original goals of 3 Mn arrivals and US$ 4 Bn). - Achieving revised goals requires ~200,000 monthly arrivals, driven by 75,000–100,000 high-spending Indian visitors.