Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka increased by 14.7 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 79,829 during the month of April.

The majority of arrivals were sourced from Western Europe at 27,531 arrivals during the month, improving by 10 percent YoY, followed by South Asia, which accounted for a further 22,531 visitors, a 9.7 percent increase YoY.

India, the single largest source of arrivals, accounted for 14,333 visitors, dropping 7.1 percent YoY.

Tourists from the United Kingdom accounted for a further 8,233 arrivals, up 2.7 percent YoY, followed by Germany with 5,030 arrivals, an 8.3 percent YoY increase and France with 4,842 arrivals, up 6.8 percent YoY.

Arrivals from China grew to 2,971 during the month, against 1,497 in the previous year with the East Asian region accounting for a total of 12,012 arrivals, up by a sharp 34.2 percent YoY.

Eastern Europe recorded a similar 34.5 percent increase in tourists, reaching 4,818 arrivals of which Russia accounted for 2,528 arrivals.

In total, 368,627 tourists were reported to have visited Sri Lanka between January and April this year, against 330, 116 arrivals in 2012.

Trends in tourist arrivals held over the year with Western Europe leading by region, displaying a 12.1 percent YoY increase in arrivals to reach 156,658 visits.

India was the single largest source of arrivals by country at 52,892 visits, amounting to a 5.2 percent YoY decline.

Meanwhile, arrivals from China grew by 65.8 percent YoY to 11,324 since the start of this year.

India and China are considered to be two of the largest emerging markets for the tourism sector, both on a global and domestic level.

Both countries have been targeted for significant promotional campaigns by Sri Lanka Tourism alongside new markets in Eastern Europe.