Tourist arrivals up 9.7% in August

Tourist arrivals in August rose by 9.7% to 79,456, whilst the figure in the first eight months was up 15.8% to 622,661.

August also marked the 40th month of year-on-year improvement since the end of the 30-year conflict in May 2009. However, for the year, the 9.8% growth in August was also the lowest in a month.

August’s growth of near 10% is higher in comparison to the 7.8% year-on-year increase recorded in July, though the number of tourists was higher at 90,338.

The Government is targeting one million tourists for 2012 and by end August over 60% of the goal had been achieved. The busy winter season is around the corner for the tourism industry.

Revenue from tourism rose 24.2% to $ 560.4 million in the first seven months of 2012 from the same period last year.