Sri Lanka earns over 1.5 bln USD from tourism in first half of year

COLOMBO, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's earnings from tourism rose to over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first six months of 2024, a 77.9-percent increase year on year, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said in its latest weekly report.

Tourist arrivals in the first half was 1.01 million, up 61.7 percent from the same period in 2023.

Tourism earnings in June hit 113.4 million dollars, compared to 100.3 million dollars one year ago.

Meanwhile, workers' remittances for the first six months of 2024 were 3.14 billion dollars, up from 2.82 billion dollars in the same period last year.

Earnings from remittances was 519.6 million dollars in June.

Tourism and workers' remittances are among the top foreign revenue generators for the South Asian nation.■