Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 23-pct in March

Apr 05, 2016 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 22.8 percent to 192,841 in March from a year earlier driven by arrivals from India and China,  the data from tourist promotion office showed. In the first quarter of 2016, arrivals were up 22.1 percent to 584,818. Arrivals from South Asia were up 28.6 percent to 44,175 in March 2016, with Indian arrivals up 38.2 percent to 30,170 from a year earlier, while arrivals in the first quarter rose 32.2 percent to 85,624. Chinese arrivals rose 40 percent to 19,645 in March. Visitors from the United Kingdom was up 32 percent to 44,813 with overall arrivals from  Western Europe up 22.6 percent to 69,972. German arrivals rose 6.3 percent to 16,264 while arrivals from France rose 11 percent to 11,175. Italian visitors rose 30 percent to 2,683.