The tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka maintained momentum in August, as within the first eight days of the month, over 53,000 international visitors entered the country.

The provisional data showed that the island nation welcomed a total of 53,150 tourists from August 1 to 8, bringing the year-to-date international arrivals to 1,252,209.

Analysis shows that the weekly arrival average has improved from the levels of about 35,000 in April, 26,000-27,000 in May and June and about 43,000 in July.

The August weekly arrival average is about 46,000 while the daily arrival average is about 6,600.

Typically, in August, the island nation witnesses an increase in the tourist arrival rate, due to the summer season. However, it is uncertain if Sri Lanka will be able to maintain the momentum for the coming weeks and months, due to the issues in the issuance of tourist and visit visas.

Sri Lanka is currently looking to move back to the eVisa handling system rolled out by Mobitel, after the Supreme Court issued an order on August 2 to suspend the new online visa portal managed by IVS-GBS and VFS Global, due to the lack of transparency in awarding the project to the said entities.

While the tourism authorities were hopeful and determined that the transition to the Electronic Travel Authorisation would be completed by this week, Public Securities Minister Tiran Alles said the change could take months.

Arrangements are rolled out to issue on-arrival visas and for Sri Lanka missions to issue visas. However, the process is not as smooth as expected. Several tourists and travel agents have taken to social media to share the issues and challenges.

Unless immediate measures are taken to rectify the issue, it is likely for Sri Lanka to see a hit in its tourist arrivals.
The top source markets for Sri Lanka tourism so far in August are India, the United Kingdom and China.

DM