Sri Lanka tourism earnings drop in April, CBSL reports
May 18, 2026 09:52 am
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has stated that the total tourism earnings for April 2026 amounted to USD 157.1 million.
However, this reflects a 38.8% decline compared to April 2025, when tourism earnings stood at USD 256.7 million.
According to statistics from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, 135,643 foreign tourists had arrived in Sri Lanka in April 2026.
In comparison, in January 2025, USD 256.7 million was earned with the arrival of 174,608 foreign tourists.
Meanwhile, during the period from January to April 2026, a total of 876,277 foreign tourists had visited Sri Lanka, generating total tourism earnings of USD 1,111 million, according to CBSL’s data.
When compared with the same period in 2025, during which 896,884 tourists visited the country and earnings amounted to USD 1,379 million, tourist arrivals recorded a decline of 2.3%, while tourism earnings decreased by 19.4%.
