Sri Lanka has recorded 1,468,980 tourist arrivals between January 1 and August 18, according to the latest figures from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
The first 18 days of August brought 125,562 visitors. India led the month with 27,884 arrivals, followed by the United Kingdom with 13,980 and France with 8,776.
India remains the largest source market for the year to date with 366,114 visitors, ahead of the United Kingdom on 144,381 and China on 97,073. February was the strongest month so far in 2026, with 279,328 arrivals.
August running ahead of July
The August figures point to a modest pick-up in pace. The 125,562 arrivals over the first 18 days work out at close to 7,000 visitors a day, against an average of about 6,350 a day across the whole of July.
That follows a softer mid-year. Sri Lanka recorded 196,845 arrivals in July, down 1.7% on a year earlier, the first monthly year-on-year decline reported in recent months.
The cumulative count has risen by just over 251,000 since the SLTDA reported 1,217,956 arrivals to July 12, when the industry crossed the 1.2 million mark.
Neither the SLTDA release as reported by Ada Derana nor NewsFirst’s account gave a year-on-year comparison for the January–August period, or earnings figures to accompany the arrival numbers. The authority has not yet published a full-month August total, which will not be available until early September.
