Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka are recovering in May after two consecutive months of sharp declines caused by the conflict in the Middle East, which prompted a wave of cancellations from key source markets.
Sri Lanka recorded 183,979 tourist arrivals in March, a decline of 19.8 percent compared to the same month last year, while April saw an even steeper fall of 22.3 percent to 135,643 — among the weakest monthly totals in the current recovery cycle.
The trend has started to reverse. In the first 17 days of May, Sri Lanka recorded 75,465 arrivals — just 0.9 percent below the corresponding period of May 2025. The average daily arrival rate of 4,439 tourists in May so far is marginally above the full-month May 2025 daily average of 4,288, suggesting momentum is building.
Analysts attributed the improvement to flight schedules gradually normalising as hostilities in the Middle East eased, allowing carriers to restore routes and bookings to recover. Sri Lanka’s geographic position and reliance on long-haul visitor flows from Europe and the Gulf had made it disproportionately exposed to the disruption.
Year-to-date arrivals crossed 950,000 in early May, according to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority data published earlier this week, keeping the country on course for a strong second half if regional stability holds.
