Alongside the increase of international flights to Sri Lanka, cruise ship arrivals too are increasing and there will be 50 cruise ships calling at Sri Lanka from February to April.
Director General, SLTDA, B. H. R. Sariffo’deen said that the cruise ships will be mainly calling at the Colombo Harbour and will also anchor in Hambantota and Trincomalee harbours as well.
He said that each cruise ship will have around 1,000 travellers and the ships are expected to be anchored in Sri Lanka’s harbours for around two days. “These cruise operations will boost the arrival figures for tourism this year.”
Up to February 16, 2024 the arrival of over 350,000 tourists had been recorded, and it is anticipated that it will further increase. January recorded a surge in the number of tourist arrivals which was recorded at 208,253.
The top three markets included India, Russia and the UK. Sri Lanka Tourism is confident that the set target of 2.3 million tourists in 2024 or even more can be achieved with all stakeholders working towards this objective. He said that Sri Lanka has so far earned over USD 500 million from tourism.
The year 2018 was considered to be the best year for Sri Lanka Tourism but with the current healthy arrivals trend, 2024 is expected to be the best year for the industry so far.
With continuous promotional efforts by Sri Lanka Tourism and stakeholders the tourism sector has seen considerable growth in recent times. Growth in the European sector is significant feature, as they stay for long periods.
He said that Southern Province hotels had the best occupancy levels with around 85% while the Cultural Triangle hotels maintained around 80% occupancy and Kandy around 65%. The Colombo City hotels maintained around 75% occupancy levels.
“The new positioning for the destination is – “Sri Lanka – You’ll come back for more’’ which gives a sense of confidence to the traveller, invokes curiosity to explore the destination more, and also gives everything in a nutshell – diversity, compactness, and authenticity, which will make tourists come back for more,” Sariffo’deen said.
