Tourism earnings grow

Earnings from tourism in the first quarter of this year grew at a healthy rate of 28.8 per cent to 268 million US Dollars.

Tourist arrivals in the month of April this year rose 9.0 percent in comparison to the same period last year. Data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed that the month of April recorded 69,591 tourist arrivals in the country compared to the 63,835 in the same month last year.

Sri Lanka launched an ambitious five-year plan under the guidance of the Economic Development Minister to boost tourism in the country. Under the plan the country expects to raise the number of arrivals to 2.5 million and to earn annual revenue of 2.75 billion US Dollars by the year 2016.