Apr 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 11.6 percent in February this year compared to the same period last year, the data released today by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.

The month recorded 93,232 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 83,549 arrived in February 2012.

Tourist arrivals recorded a 12.5 percent increase in the first two months of this year with 190,643 tourists arriving in the island.

Overall arrivals from North America rose 4.8 percent to 9,789 this year. Arrivals form US rose 17.8 percent during the first two months of 2013 while arrivals from Canada declined 8.2 percent.

Tourist arrivals from Western Europe reached 85,119 during the first two months, a 13.7 percent increase from the 74,861tourists arrived in the same month last year.

Arrivals from Eastern Europe increased 17.5 percent with the arrival of 17,301tourists while tourist arrivals from Middle East increased by 4.4 percent.

Arrivals from South Asia up to February increased by 9.7 percent with 38,088 tourists visiting the island. Of those arrived from South Asia, 26,770were from India.

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

Since the end of the war against the Tamil Tiger terrorists in May 2009, the country has seen steady rise in tourist arrivals every year for the past four years.

Source :http://www.colombopage.com/archive_13A/Apr29_1367219872CH.php