Sri Lanka tops Lonely Planet’s top 10 countries to visit in 2019

October 23, 2018 (LBO) - Sri Lanka has placed number one among the Lonely Planet's top 10 countries to visit in 2019. According to Wikipedia, Lonely Planet is among the largest travel guide book publishers in the world.  They have sold over 120 million books since inception (1972) and over 11 million of its travel apps. A mention in the Lonely Planet can equate to increased tourism for the destination and the sites they recommend to visit. Sri Lanka topping the list is a material victory for Sri Lanka's tourism promotion effort. Tourism has been one of the few genuine bright spots in the sluggish Sri Lankan economy. For the year 2018 through the 30th September, 1,731,922 tourists had visited Sri Lanka for this year. The amount of visitors is an 11.6 percent increase over last year when 1,551,931 tourists had visited the country during the same period. New hotel rooms are coming online with an abundance of job opportunities as a result, however, industry players claim there is a lack of trained personnel to fill them.