Sri Lanka received 168,625 foreign tourists in October 2026, a 2.1% year-on-year increase from 165,193 in October 2025. This was the highest number of arrivals ever recorded for the month of October, surpassing the previous record of 153,123 set in 2018. With this performance, total tourist arrivals for the first ten months of 2026 reached 1,862,304.
India remained Sri Lanka’s largest source market, contributing 62,211 visitors, or 37% of total arrivals for the month. The United Kingdom followed with 12,402 visitors, China with 11,190, Australia with 8,509 and Germany with 8,027.
Average daily arrivals in October stood at around 5,440, with a peak of 7,045 recorded on 17 October. The week of 15–21 October saw the highest weekly inflow, with 42,739 arrivals.
The October upturn came after a 0.3% year-on-year decline in arrivals in September. Cumulative arrivals up to the end of September were still 1.8% lower than a year earlier. In parallel, tourism earnings in September rose 1.5% year-on-year to $186 million, although total tourism revenue for January–September fell 9.2% to $2.2 billion.
