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Tourist arrivals hit target of 150,000 set for 2023

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For the first time after nearly 4 years, Sri Lanka tourism has achieved an arrival target of 1.5 million for the year ending 2023.

Both Tourism Minister Harin Fernando and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu said that this was the target set for 2023.

India became the number one source of destination for Sri Lanka followed by Russia and the UK while the cruise tourism segment also attracted a huge number of arrivals to Colombo, Hambantota and Trincomalee harbours last year.

Until mid-December 2023 tourism receipts contributed over USD 2 billion to the local economy. Gajabahu said that this healthy tourism segment will continue and the free visa-on-arrival policy given to several countries including Russia, India and China has helped to boost arrivals. He said that while the Colombo city hotels are maintaining over 70% occupancy, high room numbers are also seen in outstation hotels where tourism numbers and occupancy levels have gone up to nearly 80%. “We see this healthy booking trend continuing until early March 2024.”

The post Tourist arrivals hit target of 150,000 set for 2023 appeared first on DailyNews.

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