Tourism earnings decline 2.5% in May

Earnings from tourism declined during May to $ 209 million from $ 214.5 million a year earlier, the Central Bank said yesterday.  

In May 2017, tourist arrivals recorded a decline of 2.5% year-on-year, with 121,891 tourists arriving during the month. However, on a cumulative basis, tourist arrivals grew by 4.8% to 887,093 during the first five months of 2017 compared to the corresponding period of 2016. 

The top five sources of tourist arrivals, namely India, China, the UK, Germany and France, accounted for 51.4% of total tourist arrivals during this period. Following the same trend in tourist arrivals, earnings from tourism also declined during May 2017 to $ 209.1 million. However, on a cumulative basis, earnings from tourism increased by 4.8% to $ 1,521.9 million during the first five months of 2017.