TOURIST arrivals to Sri Lanka in May rose by 39 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to Sri Lanka Tourism.
The surge in arrivals came from India, Sri Lanka’s biggest source market last year, with a 55.8 per cent year-on-year increase to 16,649.
Visitors to Sri Lanka from South Asia grew 53 per cent to reach 21,016 arrivals, compared to Western Europe’s 17.4 per cent rise to 12,419.
The number of visitors from the UK dropped 0.4 per cent to 4,452 in May, while arrivals from Germany, Sri Lanka’s third largest source market, increased by 3.2 per cent to 2,137.
Sri Lanka’s visitors from China rose by 100.1 per cent year-on-year to 1,337 in May.
In all, there were 327,902 arrivals to Sri Lanka in the first five months of the year, an increase of 40 per cent over the year before.
Western Europe contributed the largest number of visitors over the January to May period, with 129,367 arrivals, a 37.1 per cent increase. Arrivals from South Asia rose 50 per cent to 93,139.
