Sri Lanka earned US$ 2,245.2 million from tourism between January and September 2026, 9.2 percent less than a year earlier, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
The figure compares with US$ 2,472.9 million in the same nine months of 2025. Tourist arrivals also fell, with 1,693,679 visitors recorded in the period, 1.8 percent fewer than a year earlier.
Monthly figures have recovered slightly. Revenue in September reached US$ 185.6 million, up 1.5 percent from US$ 182.9 million in September 2025. It was the second consecutive month of year-on-year growth in earnings, after a 2.1 percent rise in August, when revenue was US$ 264.4 million. Arrivals in September, however, were 0.3 percent lower than a year earlier.
The tourism sector has faced difficulties because of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and revisions to tourism expenditure estimates have complicated comparisons with previous years, according to the data as reported.
In August the government raised its 2026 targets, lifting the annual arrivals target from 2.5 million to 2.7 million and the revenue target from US$ 3.5 billion to US$ 4.2 billion.
With US$ 2.24 billion earned by the end of September, about US$ 1.96 billion would have to be earned in the last three months of the year to meet the revenue target. That would require average monthly earnings of about US$ 653 million between October and December. Reaching the arrivals target would require roughly one million visitors in the same period.
Background
Tourism is one of Sri Lanka’s main sources of foreign currency, alongside garment exports and remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad. The sector was badly affected by the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis of 2022, and has been rebuilding since.
In 2025, Sri Lanka recorded US$ 3.22 billion in tourism revenue and a record 2.36 million tourist arrivals. The 2026 results so far are below that pace for the first nine months, although the annual targets set by the government are higher than the 2025 outcome.
The Central Bank publishes tourism earnings each month, based on estimates of visitor spending, which is why revisions to the estimates can change comparisons between years.
What it means
Tourism earnings add to the foreign exchange available to the country, which helps in paying for imports such as fuel and medicine and in supporting the value of the rupee. Weaker earnings reduce that inflow, although the effect depends on other sources of foreign currency such as remittances and exports.
The sector also supports jobs in hotels, restaurants, transport and small businesses, particularly in coastal and tourist areas. Hoteliers and tour operators in those areas depend heavily on arrivals in the final quarter, which includes the traditional peak season starting in December.
