Tourist arrivals up 27.9 percent in October

Tourist arrivals recorded a 16.8 percent growth during the first 10 months of this year with 904,015 tourists arriving, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority sources said.

Tourist arrivals rose 27.9 percent in October this year compared to the corresponding period last year, SLTDA data revealed.

The number of visitors recorded this month was 102,805 compared to the 80,379 in October 2012.

Arrivals from North America rose by 24.1 percent in October with visitors from the US increasing 35.3 percent in October. During the first eight months of the year overall arrivals from North America rose 10.1 percent to 51,700.

The number of tourists from Western Europe increased this year compared to those from South Asia. Tourist arrivals from Western Europe reached 336,493 during the first 10 months of the year rising to 14.7 percent while October arrivals increased by 17.9 percent to 28,662.

Arrivals from Eastern Europe increased 28.3 percent this year with 64,263 tourists while 11,206 tourists arrived in October, a 59 percent increase compared to October 2012. Arrivals from Russia rose 89.4 percent in October while arrivals from other countries in the region increased by 40 percent.

The number of tourist arrivals from the Middle East increased in October by 45.7 percent to 7,624 while arrivals increased by 12.1 percent for the 10 months this year.

The first eight months of 2013 recorded 126,733 East Asians as arriving in the island, an increase of 25.9 percent with China recording a 85.7 percent increase in the year. In October 163.5 percent more Chinese visited the country compared to the corresponding period of the past year.

Arrivals from South Asia increased by 16.7 percent with 225,707 tourists. Arrivals from India were 8.7 percent in the first ten months of 2013.

In the first nine months of this year Sri Lanka earned US$ 883.1 million from tourism, 24.2 percent more compared to the corresponding period last year.

With the arrivals for the Commonwealth meeting this month the tourist arrivals are expected to hit one million by the end of this month.

Sri Lanka fulfilled its target of one million tourist arrivals last year and earned over US$ 1 billion from tourism. Sri Lanka Tourism anticipates 2.5 million tourists by 2016.