COLOMBO, July 26 : About 1.1 million foreign tourists have arrived in Sri Lanka by mid-July, and the country can record the highest number of tourist arrivals a year if current trends continue, the President’s Media Division (PMD) quoted an official as saying on Friday.
Addressing a media briefing at the Presidential Media Centre on Thursday, Somarathna Vidanapathirana, secretary to the Ministry of Tourism and Lands, said Sri Lanka recorded the previous highest number of tourists in 2018, according to the PMD.
Over 2.3 million tourists arrived in the country in 2018, and Sri Lanka earned 4.4 billion U.S. dollars that year from tourism, he said.
Meanwhile, Upali Ratnayake, deputy director general of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), said Sri Lanka has earned about 1.56 billion dollars from tourism from January to the end of June 2024.
Shirantha Peiris, chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, said they will train 10,000 students for jobs in the tourism sector this year.
H.G. Jayasekara, deputy director of the Department of National Zoological Gardens, said the country’s botanical gardens welcomed 965,468 local tourists and 183,674 foreign tourists by June 2024, which is a 96 percent increase for foreign tourist visits compared to the same period last year. Tourism is one of Sri Lanka’s top foreign revenue generators. (UNI)
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