Indian visitor surge boosts Sri Lanka tourism

Sri Lanka has recorded a growth of 15.3 per cent in tourist arrivals during the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year.

According to the statistics from the Tourism Ministry, 1,164,647 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka between January and June. 1,010,444 tourists visited the country during the same period previous year. In June, 146,828 tourists arrived in the island country, registering 19 per cent increase from the arrivals recorded in June 2017.

India remains the largest market for Sri Lanka in June, followed by China and Britain.

Visitors from India grew 18.4 per cent to 32,971, and arrivals from China grew 18.7 per cent to 20,424. Visitors from UK grew 16.1 per cent to 12,104. Australian arrivals grew 57 per cent to 9,997 with 1,354 coming by sea. German arrivals fell 17.5 per cent to 7,024. Visitors from Japan were up 3.5 per cent to 3,074 while Malaysian arrivals rose 18.3 per cent to 2,019.