“Sri Lanka could achieve the set target for 2024 or more, whilst earning over $ 4 billion by year-end,” Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said, recalling that in 2023 the country surpassed the 500,000 mark only in May and in 2022 in September.

However, to reach the ambitious target of 2.3 million arrivals by the end of 2024, the industry will need to crank out its best performance, as another 77% must be achieved over the nine months.

The Minister said that is evident that the industry has capitalised on the strong resurgence of 2023 performance to leapfrog this year in terms of numbers and earnings.

“The industry stakeholders deserve credit for making a favourable impact within a brief span of time since May 2022. Efforts and campaigns are continuing to attract as many tourists during the off season,” he added.