Colombo, Nov 8 (NIA) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose by 13.7 percent in October, from a year ago, with Indian and Chinese markets recording a commendable growth, statistics from the Tourism Department showed here on Tuesday.
More than 20,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka, last month, a 19.8% increase, compared to the same period last year.
Indian tourist arrivals were 36,471 in October, a 19.3% increase from the same period last year.
Overall, Sri Lanka received 150,419 visitors last month and tourist arrivals in the first 10 months of this year have risen 14.6% to over 1.65 million visitors.
The number of tourists from traditional markets such as Germany also rose 26.5% to 12,246 while the numbers from the United Kingdom, were up 10% to 10,964.
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Industry, which was severely affected by the island’s 30 year civil conflict has now become one of the leading foreign exchange earners.
An estimated 1.8 million tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last year, contributing to earnings of $ 2.98 billion to government revenues.
The government said it hoped to attract at least 3 million tourists by the end of this year, and it has set a target of 4 million by 2020.