Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 1.3-pct in Oct, Chinese visitors drop

Nov 09, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka tourist arrivals rose 1.3 percent to 152,429 in October 2017 from a year earlier amid subdued growth in the main Indian and Chinese markets. Arrivals in the first 10 months of the year were up 2.7 percent to 1.7 million arrivals, data from the state tourism authority showed.

Indian visitors were up 1.4 percent to 36,996 in October while total Indian visitors for the first 10 months were up 5.5 percent to 304,597, arriving top slot. Chinese visitors were up 6.2 percent to 21,846 in October while total Chinese visitors for the first 10 months were down 1.

4 percent to 230,481. Middle Eastern markets also showed a decline of 10.5 percent while visitors from Australasia were up 8.6 percent to 67,403 for the first 10 months.

Arrivals from UK rose 7.8 percent while arrivals from Germany dropped 1.7 percent in the first 10 months to October. Page2Oct17