Tourist arrivals up 18% in Sept.

Tourist arrivals jumped 18.1% to 71,111 in September from a year earlier, Government data showed yesterday.

In the first nine months of this year, the cumulative figure was 693,772, up by 16% over the corresponding period of 2011.

The number of visitors has risen year-on-year in the past 41 months since the civil war ended in May 2009.

The Tourism Board expects over one million tourists in 2012, yielding revenue of more than $ 1 billion, up from last year’s record $ 830.3 million.

Revenue from tourism rose 24.2% to $ 641.8 million in the first eight months of 2012 from the same period last year.