June tourist arrivals grow 19%

Thursday, 5 July 2018 00:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The total number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during June reached 146,828, latest data released by the Government said yesterday, posting a growth of 19% and pushing cumulative arrivals to 1.16 million.

This month, the largest source market for tourists is India, followed by China and United Kingdom.

As at 30 June, 1,164,647 tourists had visited Sri Lanka for this year. It is a 15.3% growth over last year when 1,010,444 tourists had visited the country during the same period.

Asia and Pacific continued to be the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 58% of the total traffic received in June 2018. Europe accounted for 28% of the total traffic, America 7%, Middle East 6% and Africa 1%.

India, China, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany were Sri Lanka’s top five international tourist generating markets in the month of June this year.

India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 22% of the total traffic received in June.

China accounted for 14% of the total traffic, while United Kingdom, Australia and Germany accounted for 8%, 7% and 4% respectively.

Earnings from tourism in March were estimated at $433 million, with cumulative earnings amounting to $1,313 million during the first quarter of 2018, the Central Bank said in its latest External Performance report.

Total tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2018 at 707,924 were a 17% increase over the first quarter of 2017.