Sri Lanka Tourism expects to attract an approximate of 3 million tourists in 2024, stated the Minister of Tourism and Lands, Harin Fernando recently in an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times.

In response to the question raised by its Web Editor Somshankar Bandyopadhyay on the target for the coming year, Minister Fernando said: “Our target is 2.5 million to 3 million tourist arrivals in 2024.” 

In terms of revenue, the Minister expects that would be $ 5 billion. 

The subject Minister also noted that the ministry has set a target to increase visitor spending from the current average of  $ 250, to $ 400 by next year saying that the “quality of the tourist” is what Sri Lanka is “very concerned about”. 

The boutique hotels are owned by foreigners who reside in Sri Lanka which are of “great quality.”  

He also said that Sri Lanka looks forward to attracting the Arabian market where the  Ministry is working towards increasing the air seat capacity by increasing the frequency of flights to the country despite it being “crucial”.

“We (Sri Lanka Tourism) are looking forward to seeing the fifth daily flight from Emirates to fly into Sri Lanka. Right now, we have 3 to 4. We want to see that it increases to five. We are quite hopeful that the UAE and Middle East Markets will find Sri Lanka very attractive.” 

Speaking on the revival of the tourism sector following the economic crisis, he said this year Sri Lanka expects to target 1.7 million to 2 million tourists while the revenue expected is $ 3 billion.