Increase In Tourists Arrival in January 2016
Comparative Srilanka’s tourist arrivals rose 24.3 percent in January this year when compared with the same period last year, the data released today by the Srilanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) revealed.
January 2016 recorded 194,280 tourists arrivals in the country, but in January 2015 tourists arrivals was recorded at 156,246.
Arrivals from North America rose 17.3 percent to 9,160 in January and the arrivals from US rose 17.2 percent to 5,144 during the month.
Tourist arrivals from Western Europe reached 63,690 during the month, a 23.8 percent increase from the 51,459 tourists arrived in the same month last year.
Arrivals from Eastern Europe increased 11.1 percent with the arrival of 22,733 tourists in January 2015 although the arrivals from Russia declined 9.5 percent during the month.
Tourist arrivals from Middle East increased 14.7 percent with 10,109 visitors.
Tourist arrivals from East Asia increased 48.1 percent as 38,807 visited the country compared to the 26,198 visited in January 2015. Arrivals from China increased 122.3 percent with 26,083 tourists arriving in the country last month.
Arrivals from South Asia this year increased by 20.7 percent with 40,051 tourists visiting the island. Of those arrived from South Asia, 28,895 were from India corresponding to an increase of 25.9 percent this year. However, arrivals from Pakistan declined by 28.5 percent.
Nearly 1.8 million tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last year contributing US$ 2.86 billion of earnings to the government revenues in 2015 compared to US$ 2.43 billion recorded during 2014.
The Tourism Authority has set a target of 2.5 million tourist arrivals this year.