18.7 percent growth in first half of 2012

by Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

The number of visitors to Sri Lanka grew 18.7 percent to 452, 867 in the first half of this year compared to 381, 538 during the corresponding period last year.

The number of visitors rose 21.6 percent to 65,245 in June compared to 53,636 a year earlier.

The highest growth rates in arrivas were recorded from the traditional Eastern European market and Latin America and the Caribbean region. Both regions recorded a 47 percent growth.

The Ukranian market posted a 106 percent growth, the highest growth rate in the region.The next highest growth rate was from the East Asian market which grew by 36.7 percent boosted by Philippines 241.1 percent, Taiwan 122.1 percent and Indonesia 71.1 percent.

The Western European market recorded a marginal growth of 20.3 percent, contributed mainly by Spain 89.2 percent and Switzerland 83.6 percent.

The African region recorded a noteworthy growth of 26.3 percent but arrivals during June dropped 35.4 percent to 230 compared to 356 in the corresponding month last year.

The Middle East region is a potential market with a 17.9 percent growth rate in the first half of this year.

The number of visitors from the region rose 31.8 percent to 5,915 in June as against 4,487 a year earlier.

Growth from the South Asian region has been slow with 4.6 percent. The region is popular for MICE tourism. India dominated the region with 85,426 visitors followed by Maldives with 20,602 visitors.

Australasia is a growing market with 21,775 tourists. Australia leads the region with 19,345 visitors during the first six months this year in comparison to 16,660 in the corresponding period last year.

The number of visitors to Sri Lanka has been growing on a month-on-month basis this year. The highest number of visitors were recorded in February this year.

The number of visitors this year is expected to top one million from 855,975 last year. Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka is low compared to many countries in the region such as Malaysia, Maldives, India and China which attracts several million tourists a year.