Tourist arrivals surge early May reaching 32% of 2025 target

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector showed improved growth in tourist arrivals in the first 13 days of May 2025, with an expansion of 21.53 percent year-on-year (YoY) compared to the same period in 2024.

 

The upward trend was significantly propelled by a strong influx of visitors from India, who accounted for nearly one-third of all arrivals during this period.

 

Official figures released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed the country welcomed 59,755 tourists between 1 – 13 May 2025. This marks a substantial rise from the 49,167 arrivals recorded during the corresponding period in 2024.

 

The Indian market remained the dominant source, contributing 18,812 tourists (31.5 percent of the total) in the first 13 days of May 2025. 

 

Other key source markets during this period included Germany with 4,447 arrivals (7.4 percent), the United Kingdom with 4,256 arrivals (7.1 percent), China with 3,930 arrivals (6.6 percent), and Australia with 2,817 arrivals (4.7 percent).

 

Arrivals from Russia stood at just 1,912, with no charter flights in operation during this summer.

 

Cumulative analysis shows that from 1 January to 13 May 2025, Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 956,639 tourists.

 

This represents a year-to-date (YTD) growth of approximately 14.73 percent compared to the 833,818 arrivals recorded during the same period in 2024. Year-to-date, India also leads with 175,871 arrivals, followed by Russia (109,005) and the United Kingdom (91,309).

 

With 956,639 tourists having arrived by May 13, 2025, Sri Lanka has achieved approximately 32 percent of its ambitious target of welcoming three million tourists for the year.

 

To reach this goal, the nation needs to attract an unprecedented 2,043,361 visitors in the remaining months of 2025.

 

Industry analysts note that the proposed free-visa travel initiative and a comprehensive global promotion campaign are yet to be fully implemented.