COLOMBO: Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during the month of April rose 8.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 122, 217, with more Chinese and Indian tourists visiting the country, data released by Sri Lanka’s tourism office showed.
Arrivals from India rose 34.1 percent yoy to 23, 048, boosting total arrivals from South Asian region by 17.7 percent yoy to 32, 907.
Chinese visitors to Sri Lanka in April amounted to 13, 790, up 72.3 percent yoy, more than half of the total arrivals from East Asia, which rose 31.9 percent yoy to 24, 292.
Tourist arrivals from Eastern Europe picked up for the first time this year by 7.7 percent yoy to 11, 675, probably signaling a reverse in the trend.
Russian tourists rose 7.7 percent yoy to 11, 675. But tourists from Ukraine fell 31.1 percent yoy to 1, 328.
The political unrest in Russia and Ukraine, two key tourism source markets for Sri Lanka, has been hampering visitors from the region during the previous months.
Tourists from Western Europe meanwhile fell 6.4 percent yoy 34, 964 amid arrivals from the U.K and Germany falling 9.3 percent yoy to 11, 233 and 21.1 percent yoy to 6, 423.
Visitors from France however rose 7 percent yoy to 6, 386.
Tourist arrivals from Middle East increased 3.4 percent yoy to 5, 484, with Saudi Arabia leading the pack with 1, 278 tourists.
Arrivals from Canada and USA grew 11.7 percent yoy to 6, 160 and visitors from Australasia fell 9.3 percent to 5, 325 amid less tourists from Australia and New Zealand during the month.
Cumulative tourist arrivals for the first four months of 2015 rose 12.5 percent yoy to 601, 055.
