Tourist arrivals up 12.8% in June

The number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka increased from 12.8% to 73,628 in June 2013, compared to June 2012 which was 65,245, according to the latest figures released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

The number of tourists who arrived in the island up to June 2013 was 512,281.There was an increase in the number of arrivals from Western Europe, East Asia, Australasia, South Asia, and North America.

The number of visitors from Western Europe rose by 14.0 percent (19,731) with tourists from France up 12.3 percent (2,545), Belgium up 46.8 percent (555), the number of visitors from the UK was 6,400 and Germany up 6.4 percent (3,248), according to the SLTDA.

Arrivals from East Asia increased 33.1 percent (11,679), with 1,600 from Malaysia and 491 from South Korea. Arrivals from Australasia went up by 2.9 percent to 4,176 in June 2013.

The number of visitors from South Africa went up by 28.8 percent to 206.