July tourist arrivals up 19% to 209, 351

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in July rose 19.1 percent year-on-year to 209, 351 on the back of higher arrivals from Western Europe and China, the statistics released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed. 

The cumulative arrivals for the first 7 months rose 16.7 percent yoy to little over one million tourists. Sri Lanka is targeting 2.2 million tourist arrivals this year. Arrivals from Western Europe grew 21 percent yoy to 77, 862 led by higher arrivals from the U.K. Germany, France and Spain.

Tourist arrivals from East Asia rose 20.6 percent yoy to 42, 890 led by China, which grew 22 percent yoy to 30, 631. Arrivals from Japan also rose 30 percent yoy to 3, 633.

Cumulative arrivals from China rose 36.6 percent yoy to 163, 473.
Arrivals from South Asia grew 17.1 percent yoy to 42, 568 with tourist from India growing 12.1 percent yoy 27, 665. Arrivals from Maldives rose 36 percent yoy to 27, 665.Cumulative arrivals from India rose 17.9 percent yoy to 200, 506. 
Tourists from Eastern Europe grew a modest 1.3 percent yoy to 7, 472 with arrivals from both Russia and Ukraine slipping 9.7 percent and 25.1 percent respectively. 
The two countries currently are experiencing some political and economic turmoil. 
Sri Lanka received 18, 591 Middle Eastern tourists in July, a growth of 15.8 percent yoy with arrivals from Saudi Arabia growing 6 percent yoy to 7, 514.
Arrivals from Australasia mainly consisting of Australia and New Zealand rose 37.6 percent yoy to 8, 155. 

Sri Lanka Tourism follows the UN standard of defining a tourist as a person who stays at least one night in a country and does not exceed his stay period for more than 12 months.