MONETABRIEF – The US war on Iran forced the cancellation of 2,000 flight coming and going out of Sri Lanka hurting tourism arrivals, though many airlines are now returning to earlier schedules, Deputy Minister of Tourism Ruwan Ranasinghe said.
Sri Lanka saw strong growth in arrivals up to February 2026.
"Then the West Asian war started and several air spaces were closed in the Middle East," Minister Ranasinghe told reporters in Colombo.
"And that has severely affected our tourism industry's performance. By now nearly 2,000 flights have been cancelled : a thousand arrivals as well as 1,000 departures."
Many airlines are now returning to their pre-war schedules and several new airlines are also starting operations, he said.
Qatar has increased frequencies to 5 a day and 35 flights a week, Emirates and British Airways are also increasing flights, he said.
Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Jetstar from Australia are starting operations to Sri Lanka this year.
Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals grew 9.7 percent to 277,327 in January and 16.2 percent in February to a record 279,328.
In March arrivals fell 19.7 percent to 183,979 and April visitors were down 22.3 percent to 135,643.
But in May arrivals rose 9.65 percent to 145,745 partly helped by a cricket tournament in the Indian Ocean island.
May arrivals were again down 9.9 percent to 124,551. (Colombo/July10/2026)