Tourist arrivals up 4.7% in March

Tourist arrivals in March have improved by 4.7% to 244,328, bringing the cumulative first quarter figure to 740,600, reflecting a 4.6% growth year-on-year.

The largest source market for tourists was India (up 5.6% to 34,812), followed by the United Kingdom (up 8.8% to 29,682), and China (up 12.6% to 23,759). 

Arrivals from Germany and France were down 26% and 6%, respectively, to 18,134 and 13,957.

Almost 93% of tourists travelled by air to Sri Lanka. Last year, tourist arrivals amounted to 2.3 million, and the projection for 2019 is 2.8 million.

Europe became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 49% of the total traffic received in March. Asia and Pacific accounted for 40% of the total traffic followed by America at 8%, Middle

East at 2%, and Africa at 1%.

India, United Kingdom, China, Germany and France were Sri Lanka’s top five international tourist generating markets in the month of March this year. India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 14% of the total traffic received in March. UK accounted for 12% of the total traffic while China, Germany and France accounted for 10%, 7%, and 6%, respectively.