The festivities commemorated the doubling of Indian visitors from 13,759 in January of the previous year to 34,399 in January 2024, highlighting the growth in Indian tourists visiting Sri Lanka.
With 95 flights linking Sri Lanka to nine Indian cities and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facilitating easy transactions, the exponential surge in travel was ascribed to improved connectivity between the two nations.
In 2023, Sri Lanka’s tourist industry achieved unprecedented heights, exceeding the USD 2 billion revenues milestone and seeing a noteworthy increase in Indian visitors. Growing in popularity as a travel destination, Sri Lanka’s strategic alliance with India continues to be essential to promoting mutual prosperity and cross-cultural tourism.
The end of Sri Lanka tourist’s first Business Networking event for 2024 in India, which took place in Delhi and Mumbai, has shown the durability and strong development of Sri Lanka’s tourist sector. The events, which drew over 300 attendees, including travel agents, industry stakeholders, and experts in the field, emphasized the mutual dedication to developing closer tourism-related relations between India and Sri Lanka.
The festivities commemorated the doubling of Indian visitors from 13,759 in January of the previous year to 34,399 in January 2024, highlighting the growth in Indian tourists visiting Sri Lanka. With 95 flights linking Sri Lanka to nine Indian cities and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facilitating easy transactions, the exponential surge in travel was ascribed to improved connectivity between the two nations.
Speaking to the crowd in Mumbai, Sri Lanka’s Minister of tourist, Lands, Sports, and Youth Affairs, Harin Fernando, thanked India for its unwavering assistance in advancing Sri Lanka’s tourist industry. Speaking on Sri Lanka’s extraordinary economic turnaround and aggressive target of drawing 2.5 million tourists by 2024, Minister Fernando emphasized the country’s early-year momentum, which saw over 48,000 visitors arrive in the first six days of February.
Kshenuka Senewiratne, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in New Delhi, reflected on the long-standing connection between her country and India and emphasized the need for increased connectivity and collaboration between the two countries. Recent talks between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the depth of their alliance and the importance of India’s assistance amid difficult economic times.
Also, Read: Country’s most ambitious Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla rail link opened on 20th February