The number of tourist arrivals in the first 65 days of this year has exceeded 200,000. Hon. Minister of Tourism, Prasanna Ranathunga stated that the number of tourists arrived in the country from 1^st January 2022 to yesterday (6^th) was recorded as 200,798. According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), 21,964 tourists arrived in the country during the first six (6) days of March in this year. 82,327 tourists in January and 96,507 tourists in February have arrived in the country. This is the highest number of tourists visiting the country in a month after two years.

According to the reports of SLTDA, most tourists that recorded as 4,395 were from India in March.  And, 3,094 tourists were from the Russian Federation (Russia), while 2,240 were from Germany and 969 were from France. The highest number of tourists to Sri Lanka has been from Russia when considering the reports of the last two months.

Hon. Minister of Tourism, Prasanna Ranathunga stated that Sri Lanka is currently paying special attention to the new tourism markets in the world. The Minister further emphasized that their attention has been drawn to a number of countries which had not previously promoted Sri Lanka as a tourist destination and special promotion programs have been planned to target those countries.

In addition, all arrangements have been made to launch the global promotion program in this year. Hon. Minister of Finance has recently agreed to provide USD 56 billion for this purpose in the second quarter of this year. Moreover, the Minister stated that those activities will be carried out accordingly.