Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 2.8 percent in September this year compared to the same period last year, the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.The month recorded 149,087 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 145,077 arrived in September 2017.
As at 30th September 2018, 1,731,922 tourists had visited Sri Lanka for this year. It is a 11.6% growth over last year when 1,551,931 tourists had visited the country during the same period.Asia and Pacific continued to be the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 47% of the total traffic received in September 2018.
Europe accounted for 43% of the total traffic, America 6%, Middle East 3% and Africa 1%.India, China, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany were Sri Lanka’s top five international tourist generating markets in the month of September this year.
India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 22% of the total traffic received in September 2018. China accounted for 13% of the total traffic, while United Kingdom, Australia and Germany accounted for 9%, 6% and 6% respectively.
Arrivals from North America rose 31.5 percent to 5,615 in September and the arrivals from US rose 37.5 percent to 3,204 during the month while arrivals from Canada increased by 24.7 percent.
Tourist arrivals from Europe increased by 18.4 percent with the arrival of 47,056 tourists. Most of the tourists came from UK (12,593), followed by Germany (9,668) and France (4,316).
Tourist arrivals from Middle East declined by 53.3 percent with the arrival of 3,386 visitors compared to the 7,253 arrived in September 2017.
Tourist arrivals from Asia & Pacific declined by 3.2 percent with 81,114 arriving in the island. Tourist arrivals from India declined by 6.3 percent with 32,300 visitors while arrivals from China increased by 3.5 percent to record 19,600 arrivals. Arrivals from Australia recorded 38.6 percent increase in arrivals with 6,310 visitors
