The latest data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority indicate that 188,076 tourist had arrived in Sri Lanka during March 2017. In comparison to the 192,841 tourist arrivals in March 2016, this is a drop of 2.5 per cent.

Despite a record 12.9 per cent growth in the number of tourist arrivals in January 2017, the number had dropped by 0.1 per cent in February 2017.

The main reason for the drop of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka was the suspension and limitation of flights to Sri Lanka’s major airport, the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake due to the modernization work to its runways, say analysts.

The countries from which the most number of tourists had arrived in March are in respective order - 84,568 from India, 79,222 from China, 59,137 from the United Kingdom (UK), 42,390 from Germany and 36,057 from France.