Colombo, June 7 (NIA) – Sri Lanka recorded a 15.6 percent growth in Chinese tourist arrivals in May, compared to the same period last year, although overall tourist arrivals fell by 2.5 percent, statistics from the Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry showed Wednesday.
18,494 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka in May while 117,539 Chinese tourists arrived from January to May, making it one of the countries which has continued to record a continuous growth.
India, the top generating market, fell 0.3 percent in May to 34,167 compared to the 34,259 which arrived in May 2016. Overall arrivals from India in the first five months were also down 0.5 percent to 145,058.
Markets such as the Maldives also fell by 27 percent to 5,364, Pakistan fell by 6.8 percent to 2,333 and Bangladesh fell by 12 percent to 1,104.
Eastern European arrivals also fell 9 percent to 4,835, with Russia down 29 percent to 1,242, but Ukraine was up 20 percent to 1,464.