Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando states that 701,331 tourists visited Sri Lanka between January 2022 and December 26, 2022.
The minister pointed out that the government expects tourist arrivals to hit 720,000 in total by the end of 2022.
The number of tourist arrivals in the year 2021 stood at 194,495.
According to the summary report on tourist arrivals this year, a total of 73,314 tourists have visited Sri Lanka just within this month, as of December 26.
The Tourism Minister further stated that a considerable number of tourists are scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in the months of January and February next year.
Meanwhile, the US Silver Spirit luxury cruise left the island yesterday (Dec.26).
The luxury cruise ship docked at Colombo Port on December 23, along with 438 tourists and 404 members of its staff.
The tourists who arrived from the cruise had visited the areas of Colombo, Habarana, Sigiriya, and Polonnaruwa and reached Trincomalee port from Colombo last morning (Dec.26) at around 07.30 a.m.
Later, the group of tourists visited the Trincomalee area and left for Singapore last evening after a four-day visit to the island.
This is the final cruise ship to arrive in Sri Lanka for the year 2022.
Tourist Arrivals as at 26-12-22 by Adaderana Online on Scribd
