$370 Million from Tourism this year in Q1
The Ministry of Tourism says the earnings from tourism during the first quarter of this year alone is about 370 million dollars. Comparing this to the first six months of 2010, this is an increase of 51%.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said that the inflow of tourists have increased remarkably during the first six months this year. Accordingly, over 381,538 tourists have arrived in the island during the period of January to June this year. This is and increase of 36% compared to last year.
Meanwhile, the income earned from tourism during the first six months of this year is over 400 million rupees. However, during the beginning of 2010, Sri Lanka earned only around 200 million rupees. The Ministry of Tourism says that the reason for the large increase in tourist arrivals is due to the ending of terrorism in Sri Lanka.