Tourist arrivals up 20.4% to 1.6 m in November

Friday, 4 December 2015 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

According to the statistics released by SLTDA, the number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in November 2015 has increased by 20.4% with compared to last year. Accordingly 144,147 number of arrivals have recorded for the month of November and the total arrivals have gone up to 1.6 million. The average number of monthly arrivals has increased by 13.7% as at end November 2015. fgj

Western Europe comprised 31% of the total number of arrivals, recording 489,914 tourists up to November 2015. UK, Germany, France have become the three key markets in Western Europe, which records the highest number of arrivals in the region at present.

South Asia holds a share of 25% from total tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during January to November 2015, achieving 403,029 arrivals due to the dominance of the Indian market which accounted for 280,810 tourists. South Asian Region has indicated a 23.9% growth this year compared to last year due to the increase of Indian arrivals.

East Asia has contributed a 21% share to the total tourist arrivals in 2015 (up to November) signifying a number of 330,119 arrivals due to the growing trend of Chinese arrivals. China records 198,940 tourist arrivals up to November in 2015. East Asia is growing at a rate of 31.4% with compared to last year because the China market has shown a rapid increase of 68.9% as at November 2015.

Meanwhile, the 93,895 Middle East arrivals have become highlighted due to its rapid growth of 10.6% compared to last year and this is mainly due to the growth of UAE, Oman and Israel markets. Australia has also shown a healthy growth rate of 9.1% recording 58,017 arrivals as at November 2015.

India, China and UK are established in first, second and third positions by the number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during the period of January to November 2015. These three key markets represent 39% of the total tourist arrivals at present.