According to recent official statistics, Sri Lanka experienced an uptick in tourist arrivals during May, following a decline in the previous two months due to conflicts in the Middle East that resulted in numerous cancellations. In March, the number of visitors to Sri Lanka decreased by 19.8 percent, totaling 183,979 compared to the same month the previous year, and fell further by 22.3 percent in April, with only 135,643 tourists arriving.
However, in the first 17 days of May, Sri Lanka welcomed 75,465 travelers, marking a slight decrease of 0.9 percent compared to the same period in May 2025, when the figure stood at 76,207. The average daily arrivals during this period reached 4,439, which is an increase from the average of 4,288 for the entire month of May last year.
Experts attribute the resurgence in tourist numbers to the gradual normalization of flight schedules following the recent conflicts. Despite this improvement, Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has faced a significant drop in revenue since the onset of the Middle East turmoil. The intensification of the conflict has disrupted the ongoing recovery of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which had been gaining momentum after the economic crisis of 2022.
Due to widespread disruptions in global aviation, including airspace restrictions and affected Gulf airline networks, tourism revenue saw a drastic decline of 37 percent year-on-year in March 2026, amounting to US$ 223.7 million, and a 39 percent drop in April. This geopolitical upheaval has led to a 15 percent reduction in cumulative earnings for the first quarter of 2026, totaling US$ 954 million, jeopardizing the government’s ambitious targets of achieving 3 million arrivals and generating between US$ 4 billion and US$ 4.5 billion in revenue by year-end.
Further complicating the situation is a significant economic leakage, with an estimated US$ 1.13 billion of the US$ 3.2 billion generated in 2025 exiting the country for imports such as food and fuel. This has placed considerable strain on the country’s external economy, as declining gross tourism receipts fail to sufficiently offset an expanding merchandise trade deficit.
