Sri Lanka has received 63,491 international tourists in the first half of October with the total number of foreign tourists visiting the country crossing 1.55 million mark, says Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. 

SLTDA says that though tourism continued to grow robustly, the rate of growth has declined since the peak winter months, notably January and February, which saw over 100 pc growth compared to the same period last year. In September, the growth rate had declined to 9.11 pc though that could be blamed partially on the Presidential elections held in the island nation.

SLTDA says that from October 7 to 15, the tourist arrival average was 4169.4 tourists per day, down from the daily average of 4327.6 tourists during the first six days of the month but marginally up from 4071.3 tourists recorded for September this year. The daily average of tourist arrivals for the first half of the month stood at 4232.73 tourists.

India continued to account for the largest source of arrivals in the first half of October, with 18,078 arrivals, followed by 4,504 and 4,495 arrivals from China and the United Kingdom. Germany, Russia and Australia occupied the fourth, fifth and sixth positions accordingly. Incidentally, with over 29 pc growth in October itself, India remains the fastest growing market for Sri Lanka as well.

In terms of total arrivals so far in 2024, of the 1,55 million overseas visitors, India took the top spot, with 304,634 tourists and the UK remained as the second largest source market, with 140,959 arrivals, followed by Russia, with 130,701 arrivals. 

According to the historical data, Sri Lanka attracts few more thousand tourists in October compared to September.  The SLTDA has forecast 155,070 tourist arrivals for October.