Sri Lanka Tourist arrivals up 12.6-pct in Jan 2018

Feb 07, 2018 (LBO) -  Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 12.6 percent from a year earlier to 246,972 in January 2018 with Indian visitors taking the lead, official data shows. Arrivals from India were up 40 percent from 31,173 to 43,643 in January from an year ago. However Chinese arrivals were down 22 percent to 24,819. Regionally, South Asian arrivals were up 32 percent to 54,815 with Pakistan up 18.2 percent to 2,971 and Maldives also up 9.4 percent to 6,194. Western European arrivals rose 14.9 percent to 83,324 with the UK up 15.1 percent to 22,410 and German arrivals increasing by 20.2 percent to 14,982. Eastern Europe grew 15 percent to 30,550 with Russia up 12.5 percent to 11,634 and Ukraine up 12 percent to 6,544. The Middle Eastern arrivals were up 25 percent to 11,199.