Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka increased 9.4 percent in November this year compared to the same period last year, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority sources said.

Tourist arrivals for the first 11 months of 2014 increased by 20.3 percent to 1,348,481 compared to the first 11 months of 2013.

The month recorded 119,727 tourists arrivals in the country compared to the 109,420 arrived in November 2013. Most tourist arrivals were from Western Europe with 423,130 tourists visiting in November recording a 13.7 percent increase over the corresponding 2013 figures.

Arrivals from North America rose by 11.4 percent with 62,769 visitors from January to November this year while arrivals from Eastern Europe increased 25.5 percent with the arrival of 134,155 tourists.

The number of Chinese tourists arriving in the island rose by an impressive 137.6 percent to reach 117,766. In November alone, tourists arrivals from China increased by 125.3 percent with 10,878 Chinese tourists visiting the island.

Tourist arrivals from South Asia increased by 13.4 percent to record 325,210 arrivals while arrivals from India increased 16.3 percent to 216,581 in the first eleven months of 2014.

In the first nine months of the year, 38,885 Australians arrived in the country, an 8.4 percent increase from the previous year.

Sri Lanka has earned US$ 1.6 billion from tourism in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 31.4 percent compared to last year.