Sri Lanka tourism stays steady in April, despite local violence

May 19 (LBO) – Tourist traffic to Sri Lanka stayed steady in April to reach 46,000 travelers, despite ongoing political instability and civil unrestthe island's main tourism promotion body said Friday. Our advisory was updated to include a reference to local elections that take place next week and warning against political gatherings and demonstrations, John Culley, Second Secretary, Political and Public Diplomacy at the British High Commission in Colombo, said Friday.

We have not advised against travel to Colombo. The current British travel advisory warns British tourists against all but essential travel to the North and East of the island.

The UK is Sri Lanka’s second biggest tourist generating market, with over 24,000 British tourists from January to March this year, over 19,671 for the first three months last year.

The Sri Lanka Tourist Board has maintained total arrival forecasts of 600,000 this year.

April’s performance is a gain on the 42,261 tourists for the same period last year, though the industry is currently heading into the off-season.

Despite the steady performance in April however, city hotels have seen a slow down in business traffic, owing to