Sri Lanka’s average per day tourism spend estimate was revised from $ 177 to $ 148 due to post-Covid global lower spending tourism trends, and the depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee against the US Dollar, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Chairperson Buddhika Hewawasam said, speaking to The Daily Morning Business, yesterday (9).
“One factor is the currency depreciation, another is post-Covid, the travel trends and the behaviour of travellers is to spend less. For example you have the Maldives that has a per day spend ranging around $ 300, which is lower than the pre-pandemic per day spend that used to be $ 500,” Hewawasam said, referring to the revised per day spend figure for Sri Lankan travellers, that had been introduced in August of last year.
In January, Sri Lanka’s tourism revenue declined by 5.6%, though arrivals reached an all time high figure in a month, at 277,327 arrivals, Central Bank data shows. Further, arrivals were also up by 9% from last year’s arrivals in the same time period, data from the SLTDA shows, reflecting a discrepancy between the two trends.
Hewawasam however said that on average, though tourists may be spending lower due to global tourism spending behaviour, they are spending more in rupee terms, with the depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee since the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis.
“If you take the particular US Dollar rate at that time, compared to the US Dollar rate now, back in 2018, it was somewhere around Rs. 150 or even lesser,” Hewawasam said, referring to the average per day spend set at $ 177, in a survey published by the authority.
“If you consider the current per day tourism expenditure, which is $ 148, tourists are bringing in more inward revenue due to the currency depreciation, than when they might have been spending $ 177 back in 2018, when the USD to LKR value was lower.”
The average exchange rate price for a US Dollar in LKR in 2018 was Rs. 162.2, which would mean that on an average day, a tourist would have spent roughly around Rs. 28,711 in 2018, based on the survey average per day spend of $ 177 noted in the past survey. Sri Lanka saw its highest tourist arrivals in 2018, at 2.33 million, raking in $ 5.6 billion in yearly tourism foreign exchange revenues, official data shows.
In 2025, with the revised per day spend of $ 148, and with the exchange rate averaging at around Rs. 300.93 for a dollar, tourists would have spent roughly around Rs. 44,537 per day. However, though Sri Lanka saw 2.36 million in arrivals in 2025, it saw only $ 3.22 billion in tourism foreign exchange revenues.
Hewawasam further added: “If we are considering the reality of the world, after the Covid-19 pandemic and the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, that previous average per day spend was exorbitantly high, and not realistic.”
“If you are to compare the $ 148 estimate with other destinations, that in itself is a relatively high number for the region. Another factor is that, if you consider the current tourism expenditure in the world, you can find that the average per day spend globally is on par or even lower than that of our estimated per day spend.”
“If you take Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries in that part of the world, it is around $ 150, $ 160, $ 170 per day spend.”
According to a report published by the Visual Capitalist last year, among the South Asian destinations, the average tourist per day spend was the highest in Maldives, with a $ 267 spend. Destinations with mature tourism industries that cater to high-end travellers with luxury resorts, fine dining, and exclusive beachside experiences such as Barbados, were on the higher end, commanding a $ 330 per day average spend, and the Bahamas seeing a $ 217 per day average spend. On the lower end, India’s per day average spend was noted at $ 36.
“Thirdly, we faced a pandemic and then an economic crisis, there was a growth in the unregulated, informal sector of hospitality. There is a significant amount of establishments that are not officially registered, but are registered for homestays online. That spend is undocumented for,” he further noted, explaining a possible means by which spending may be spread through.