Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka are rising to never-before levels and last month broke two records, beating once top markets – the UK and Germany in sheer numbers.

Statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority for end June 2014 showed that while Indian arrivals were the highest at 114,238, up 23.6 per cent from the same 2013 period, the surprise entry was China beating traditional market Germany. Arrivals from China totaled 53,230, up sharply by 137.2 per cent from 22,023 in the same 6-month period in 2013. In the case of Germany, arrivals totaled 49,852, an increase of 23 per cent from last year. On a month-on-month basis (June 2014 and June 2013), China also beat the UK in the numbers game.

Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka in the first six months to June 2014 rose by 24.6 per cent to 727,353, well on target for expected arrivals for the whole year.

June tourist arrivals at 103,175, increased by 14 per compared to the same period last year.

In the same month, South Asia recorded the highest arrivals at 30,950 with East Asia following close at 22,000 and Western Europe at 23,205 visitors. However, Middle Eastern traffic had dropped by 12 per cent to 9, 895 from the previous year’s June figure of 11, 245, it was noted.

The Indian market picked up sizably with over 30 per cent growth at 19,911 arrivals while Chinese visitors increased significantly from 3,707 to 8,345 this June. UK increased by a marginal 1.9 per cent to 7,790 and Germany picked up by 27 per cent to 4,328.

Source: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140706/business-times/chinese-tourist-arrivals-soar-in-jan-june-beats-traditional-markets-uk-and-germany-105547.html