Tourist arrivals on the rise
The total number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka went up 46.2 to 74,197 last month. In January last year the figure was only 50,757.
Latest figures released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority show an increase in the number of arrivals from Western Europe, South Asia, East Asia, Middle East and North America.
Tourists from Western Europe, the traditional tourist generating market, rose 53.7 percent to 32,627 last month. The number of visitors from the UK went up 15.7 percent to 9,518 and those from France were 100 percent up to 4,544. The number of tourist arrival from Germany increased 24 percent to 5,543. The figures indicate that South Asian visitors rose to 42.9 percent to 17,900 with tourists from India up by 50.8 percent to 13,786. Tourist arrivals in the country increased sharply from May 2009 with the restoration of peace.
