Foreign tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka fell by 3.3% year-on-year to 191,704 in August 2026, following a 1.7% decline in July. This was the fifth monthly year-on-year drop recorded so far in 2026. Nonetheless, total arrivals for the first eight months of the year surpassed the 1.5 million mark, reaching 1,535,122.
India remained the leading source market, contributing 25.0% of total arrivals with 47,253 visitors. The United Kingdom ranked second with 19,588 visitors (10.0%), while China moved into third place with 12,321 arrivals (6.0%), overtaking Germany, which slipped to fourth with 11,405 visitors (6.0%). France completed the top five, also accounting for 6.0% of arrivals with 10,885 visitors.
In response to the softer inflows, Sri Lanka revised its 2026 tourism targets, cutting its arrival goal to 2.7 million from 3 million and reducing its projected tourism revenue to USD 4.2 billion from USD 5 billion. The outlook was further dampened by the loss of hosting rights for the Women’s Champions Trophy scheduled for February 2027, an event that had been expected to provide a significant boost to tourism.
