Feb Tourism arrivals up 20% amid China surge

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 19.3 percent from a year earlier to 235,618 in February 2018 with a surge in visitors from China, data from the state tourism promotion office showed.

The top 10 tourism generating markets accounted for nearly 70 percent of all tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka in February.

Tourists from China, the top generating market, soared 42.3 percent to 35,929 in February while Indian visitors increased 25 percent from a year earlier to 32,914.

Arrivals from the UK grew 18 percent to 23,817. Germany grew 16 percent to 17,066 and France grew 21.3 percent to 16,871, catching the tail end of the winter season.

Russian visitors increased 22.3 percent to 11,043. The United States grew 22.7 percent to 5,984 and Australia grew 27 percent to 5,693.

Tourists from Japan increased 10.6 percent to 5,263 and Ukraine grew 20.8 percent to 5,138.