Steady rise in tourist arrivals

The number of tourist arrivals rose 7.8 percent to 90,338 in July this year compared to 83, 786 arrivals during the corresponding month last year. Tourists arrivals have been on a steady growth this year with a 16.7 percent increase on a month-on-month basis.

The number of arrivals rose 16.7 percent during the first seven months this year to 543, 205 compared to 465, 324 in the corresponding period last year.

The number of arrivals increased last month despite being a lean month for tourism. The number of visitors rose 21.6 percent to 65,245 in June and 17.5 percent to 57,506 in May this year, according to Sri Lanka Tourism data.

The number of visitors to the country has already surpassed half of last year's arrivals of 855,975. Sri Lanka Tourism is optimistic that Sri Lanka would attract over one million visitors by the end of this year.

Arrivals from the Latin American and the Caribbean region have topped the ranking among countries for the third consecutive time with an increase of 47.9 percent to 862 compared to 583 in the previous month.

Visitors from Western Europe have been low compared to Eastern Europe which increased 43.1 percent to 34,413 in July.

The number of visitors from East Asia rose 35 percent to 67,133 in July compared to 49,714 the previous month. Arrivals from Philippines surpassed the number of visitor from other countries in the region with a rise of 216.2 percent to 3,086.

The number of arrivals from the Middle East market which has been a promising region recorded a negative growth of 1.0 percent last month with a slump in arrivals from 29,890 to 29,595.

The South Asian region reported a low growth with 2.6 percent to133. 554 last month. Of the 16,837 who arrived in July 11,564 were from India. The Asian region is a vibrant MICE tourism market for Sri Lanka and the sector has grown according the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau sources.

Despite a dip during the off season Sri Lanka Tourism is confident of achieving its tourist arrival target this year.

The tourism industry has set an ambitious target of achieving 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

Heads of the Sri Lanka Tourism have reiterated that attracting 2.5 million visitors is not an ambitious target given the development in the infrastructure.

The number of hotels rooms had increased with hotels and resorts being set up across the country.

The operation of domestic flights has wooed tourists to the country.

Hotel chain operators have commenced constructing resorts in the North and the East which is a hot spot for tourism. The East coast attracts a large number of tourists each year. The East is known for its clean beaches which is also globally renowned for wind surfing and whale watching.

Hotel occupancy rates in the North and the East are currently 100 percent for the holiday season, according to hoteliers in the regions.

During the first six months of this year, revenue from tourism had risen 24.3 percent compared to the corresponding period last year to $459.9 million, the Central Bank data revealed.

Sri Lanka Tourism has launched an ambitious five-year plan to boost tourism in the country. Sri Lanka expects to raise an annual revenue of $ 2.75b by 2016.

LF