The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the reply to the question asked by Hon. Thilina Samarakoon on 07.01.2026 is as follows.

¶ 02 1. Tourist arrivals in 2025 were 2,362,521—the highest in our history. The previous peak was 2,333,796 in 2018. Detailed information is presented in Annexes 01 and 02.

¶ 03 2. Gross foreign exchange earnings were USD 3.2 billion.

¶ 04 3. The arrivals target for 2026 is 3 million.

¶ 05 Measures to achieve this target include: i. Preparing the 2026–2030 Strategic Plan with the Tourism Development Authority (ongoing). ii. Expanding and upgrading Katunayake International Airport. iii. Identifying and gazetting tourism development zones; funding allocated to develop Hamilton Canal; specific guidelines prepared and gazetted for each area. iv. Establishing a Presidential Task Force to coordinate state institutions on immigration policy, visas, tourist safety, emergency response, basic infrastructure, and integration of rail, air, sea and road. v. Developing a single/central digital access platform enabling entry to multiple attractions with one pass. vi. Selecting locations such as Unawatuna, Lanka Patuna and Ampara for infrastructure development. vii. Training 20,000 personnel to NVQ Level 3 for tourism and hospitality in collaboration with Samurdhi Development Department. viii. Enhancing social and digital media promotion. ix. Registering tourism service providers and hotels; continuous quality monitoring; formalizing and regulating the informal sector. x. Conducting awareness programmes for small and medium tourism service providers. xi. Re-establishing quality, sustainability and reliability of the tourism industry; promoting Sri Lanka’s international brand while ensuring community protection and environmental friendliness to deliver higher value, maintain regional balance and global standards. xii. Ensuring job security in the tourism sector; introducing a Social Security Fund for those without pension entitlements to provide benefits.

¶ 06 Further, to gain international recognition for Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, steps are being taken to obtain Blue Flag certifications.

¶ 07 Annex 01: Summary report on tourist arrivals in 2018, 2024 and 2025 (monthly figures; total 2018: 2,333,796; 2024: 2,053,465; 2025: 2,362,521). Annex 02: Top ten source markets – December 2025 (1. India 56,715; 2. Russian Federation 27,987; 3. United Kingdom 20,535; 4. Germany 16,707; 5. Australia 14,820; 6–10: other listed; Others: 82,654; Total: 258,928).