Sri Lanka received 31,815 fewer international tourists during the first nine months of 2026 than in the corresponding period last year, according to calculations by Lakbima News using figures published by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
The country recorded 1,693,679 arrivals between January and September, compared with 1,725,494 during the same nine months of 2025. That represents a decline of approximately 1.84 percent.
The figures show that exceptionally strong arrivals in January and February did not translate into sustained growth over the full nine-month period.
Early gains erased by March and April
Arrivals rose 9.7 percent in January and 16.2 percent in February compared with the corresponding months of 2025.
March then recorded a decline of 19.8 percent, followed by a 22.3 percent fall in April. The reduction across those two months was large enough to outweigh much of the improvement recorded at the beginning of the year.
May produced another increase, but June, July, August and September all finished below their corresponding 2025 levels.
| Month | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 252,761 | 277,327 | +9.7% |
| February | 240,217 | 279,328 | +16.2% |
| March | 229,298 | 183,979 | −19.8% |
| April | 174,608 | 135,643 | −22.3% |
| May | 132,919 | 145,745 | +9.6% |
| June | 138,241 | 124,551 | −9.9% |
| July | 200,244 | 196,845 | −1.7% |
| August | 198,235 | 191,704 | −3.3% |
| September | 158,971 | 158,557 | −0.3% |
September’s decline was comparatively small, with arrivals falling by 414 visitors year on year. Nevertheless, it was the fourth consecutive month in which arrivals were below the previous year’s level.
The effect on tourism businesses
Arrival numbers are an important measure of demand for Sri Lanka’s accommodation providers, transport operators, restaurants and tour businesses. They do not, by themselves, establish how much visitors spent or how much revenue individual businesses earned.
The distinction matters because visitor spending and length of stay can change independently of the number of arrivals.
An earlier Lakbima News analysis of tourism earnings and visitor stays examined how the financial returns from tourism differ from the headline arrival figures.
Lakbima News has also reported on disruptions affecting travel through Middle Eastern aviation hubs, particularly routes used by travellers from European markets.
Those disruptions are relevant to the industry’s operating conditions, although the monthly arrival totals alone cannot establish what proportion of the nine-month decline they caused.
Final quarter will determine the annual result
Sri Lanka welcomed 2,362,521 tourists in 2025, according to SLTDA’s annual figures.
With 1,693,679 arrivals recorded by the end of September 2026, the country would need 668,842 additional visitors during the final three months of the year to equal its 2025 total.
That required figure is equivalent to approximately 222,947 arrivals per month across October, November and December.
The same three months of 2025 together accounted for 637,027 visitors. Matching last year’s annual total would therefore require a stronger final quarter than in 2025.
October’s complete monthly results have not yet been included in the published monthly table.
