Sri Lanka –  second ‘Most popular travel destination in Asia’

Sri Lanka (commonwealth) _ After Bali, Indonesia, The Times of India listed Sri Lanka as the second “most popular travel destination in Asia” for 2024.

The Times of India stated that these locations are “notable for their distinctive cultural experiences, natural beauty, and varied attractions making them top choices for travelers seeking memorable journeys in Asia.”

“The island is known for its rich cultural heritage, stunning beaches, lush tea plantations, and diverse wildlife,” the statement on Sri Lanka said. The other eight most sought-after travel locations are Hanoi, Vietnam, Bangkok, Nepal, Halong Bay, India, Kashmir, India, Tokyo, Japan, and Koyoto, Japan.

Within the span of five months, Sri Lanka has welcomed 864,082 tourists—more than half of the 1,487,303 visits recorded during the same period last year. From May 1 to May 21, 2024, 79,431 tourists arrived, with 26% of those coming from India. With 143,848 of them, India continues to be Sri Lanka’s largest source market.

With recognition from a variety of travel publications, travel websites, and travel guides, such as Lonely Planet, Travel Lemming, and Bloomberg, among others, and travel guides, Sri Lanka is still one of the world’s top tourist destinations.

Travel influencers chose Sri Lanka as the best Asian destination for 2019, and the country received the Emerging Destination Award that same year. Sri Lanka was also named by the travel website as one of the world’s greatest places for the 2019 Travel Lemming Readers Award. Sri Lanka was also listed as one of the top ten destinations to go to in 2019 by the UK’s I Spy website. Following this, Sri Lankan cuisine was ranked by the BBC Good Food team as the top trending cuisine of 2019. Sri Lanka was named as one of the top Islands in the world for 2019 by the website and magazine Travel+Lesuire. The world’s most popular travel book, Lonely Planet, has declared Sri Lanka to be the top tourist destination for 2019. Sri Lanka was named by USA Today as the greatest winter tourist destination for 2019.

Sri Lanka was listed as one of the top 20 destinations to visit in 2020 by CNN Travel. Conde Nast Traveler – Middle East once again listed the location as one of the Top Travel Destinations to Visit in February 2020. Sigiriya was included as one of Bloomberg’s new Seven Wonders of the World in 2021. Sri Lanka, which has a lot of UNESCO historical sites, beaches, wildlife parks, and hill country resorts packed into a compact area, was chosen as one of the top 25 islands by readers of travel + leisure magazine for 2021. Unquestionably, one of the greatest vacation spots just waiting to be explored and enjoyed is Sri Lanka.

Conde Nast named Sri Lanka one of the top tourism destinations in 2021, earning the country even another honor. In addition to being named a top travel destination for wellness tourism worldwide, Sri Lanka was recognized in 2021 as one of the greatest nations to visit by Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards. Furthermore, Big 7 Travel has listed Sri Lanka as one of the top 10 Instagrammable locations worldwide.

With more than 16 billion TikTok views and over 13 million Instagram hashtags, Big 7 Travel emphasizes how Sri Lanka provides a distinctive fusion of historical, natural, and cultural features. Every location in Sri Lanka offers a picturesque scene just begging to be taken, from the historic rock castle of Sigiriya to the breathtaking beaches along the country’s southern coast. So in 2023, grab your cameras and come discover Sri Lanka’s enduring beauty.

There were 18,969 international visitors arriving in Sri Lanka in 1966 when the government decided to create the Ceylon Tourist Bureau in order to grow the tourism industry as a distinct sector of the national economy. With the exception of 1971, there was an upward trend in the number of tourists arriving till 1982. The number of tourists arriving rose by 24% year between 1976 and 1982. With 407,230 arrivals, the 1982 tourist traffic revealed a notable increase in the number of visitors. However, once the civil war broke out in 1983, the number of tourists arriving each year fell and eventually stabilized at between 300,000 and 500,000.

After more than 25 years, the civil war came to a conclusion in 2009 when government troops vanquished LTTE militants. There were 1,798,380 visitor arrivals in 2015 compared to 448,000 in 2009, a surge of nearly 300% in only six years. In the years to come, Sri Lanka will become one of the most sought after destinations all over the world.