Sri Lanka has achieved a historic milestone in tourism, recording the highest number of foreign visitor arrivals ever and surpassing the long-standing record set in 2018.
Vijitha Herath, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, said tourism generated US$3.2 billion in revenue in 2025. The achievement was marked with the arrival of the 2,333,797th tourist at Bandaranaike International Airport on 29 December 2025.
The figure surpassed the previous record of 2,333,796 arrivals in 2018, confirming 2025 as the strongest year for Sri Lanka’s tourism sector to date.
The Minister made these comments during a media briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held this morning (05).
