Jun 12, Colombo: Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 17.5 percent in May this year compared to the same period last year, the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Tuesday showed.
The month recorded 57,506 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 48,943 arrived in May 2011.
Tourist arrivals from Western Europe reached 155,288 during the first five months of this year, a 20.0 percent increase from same period of last year.
Arrivals from South Asia however decreased 0.9 percent during the month of May in 2012 compared to the same month last year but, arrivals for the year increased 3.8 percent over the same period in 2011. Of the 20,829 arrived in May, a majority, 15,888 were from India.
Sri Lanka targets one million tourist arrivals this year. SLTDA statistics have recorded 855,975 tourist arrivals in 2011 compared to the 654,476 arrived in 2010.
Since the end of the war against the Tamil Tiger terrorists in May 2009, the country has seen increasing tourist arrivals every year for the past three years.
During the first four months of 2012, revenue from tourism has risen 26 percent from the same period last year to $340 million, the Central Bank data showed.
Sri Lanka launched an ambitious five-year plan under the guidance of the Economic Development Minister to boost tourism in the country. Under the plan Sri Lanka expects to raise the number of arrivals to 2.5 million and to earn annual revenue of US$ 2.75 billion by 2016.
Source - Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority
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