COLOMBO: Indian tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose nearly 36 per cent in April this year, constituting the highest number of foreign travelers visiting the country, according to latest data.
The number of Indians visiting Sri Lanka increased by 35.8 per cent to 17,192 as overall tourism arrivals rose 39.5 per cent led by India, China, Britain and Russia to 112,631.
In the first four months of 2014, tourist arrivals were up 27.6 per cent to 534,132, Lanka’s Tourism Bureau said.
In the first four months of the year, arrivals were up 27.6 per cent to 534,132.
Arrivals from Western Europe surged 47.9 per cent to 37,369 in April, with UK arrivals rising 59.6 per cent to 12,380.
Visitors from Germany rose 59.6 per cent to 8,137 and those from France rose 43.2 per cent to 5,970.
While India led the South Asian category which rose 28 per cent to 27,954, Maldives was up 10.2 per cent to 6,860 and Pakistan was up 36.5 per cent to 2,764.
East Asian visitors rose 61.4 per cent to 18,416.
China with Hong Kong surged 170 per cent to 8,005 and Japan rose 90 per cent to 2,368.
So far this year, Chinese visitors are up 135 per cent to 36,803, while Indonesia rose 92.9 per cent to 2,680.
However, Malaysia dropped 32.7 per cent to 1,322.
East European visitors were up 24.8 per cent to 10,844, with Russia up 42.6 per cent to 4,976.
Tourists from Ukraine dropped 31 per cent to 1,927 amid a flaring conflict with Russia.
Middle Eastern arrivals were up 24.8 per cent to 5,302 in April, with Saudi Arabia up 24.8 per cent to 1,026 and Israel up 236 per cent to 1,136.
Sri Lanka targets 2.5 million arrivals by 2016 up from the average annual arrival figure of one million currently.-PTI
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