The Island - By Mario Andree
Tourist arrivals for the month of February increased 14.8 percent to 65,797 from 57,300 a year ago. Arrivals for the first two months of this year increased 29.6 percent to 139,994 from 108,057 last year, data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed.
Arrivals from North America increased 33.4 percent to 7,746 from 5,805 for the first two months while arrivals from Latin America increased 82.8 percent to 234 from 128 a year ago.
Arrivals from Western Europe increased 32.5 percent to 63,719 from 48,080 while Eastern Europe tourist increased 13.1 percent to 10,445 from 9,234.
Read more
Read more
African arrivals increased 71.8 percent to 421 from 245 while arrivals from Middle East increased 21.8 percent to 5,359 from 4,396.
Arrivals from East Asia increased 31.4 percent to 14,229 from 10,832 while arrivals from South Asia increased 29.1 percent to 31,485 from 24,393. Arrivals from other countries increased 28.6 percent to 6,356 from 4,944 a year ago.
Several hotel projects are taking place in the island to support the tourism boom which is expected to reach 2.5 million arrivals by 2016. The government expects more than 750,000 tourists this year.
The government has identified several plots of land in the North Western and North Eastern coasts for new tourism projects which would be handed over to potential investors after interviews with the Treasury.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority focuses and requests citizens with modern houses to register with the ‘Home Stay’ project to assist the country with lodging capacity.
