May sees highest tourist arrivals for the year so far; S.Asia leads

8 June 2015 03:15 am

Tourist arrivals into the island this May saw the highest gains for the year so far with a 26.1 percent growth year-on-year (yoy) to 113,529 visitors with improvements across all major markets.
 South Asia as a region contributed most towards the tourist numbers, with a 28 percent growth yoy to 42,435.
India remained the largest single source, with 31,764 travellers, which was a 38.2 percent growth yoy. Maldivian arrivals increased 11 percent yoy to 6,705, while 2,586 tourists were recorded from Pakistan, which was an 8.1 percent decline yoy.
Tourist arrivals from the traditional Western European market came second with 24,497, increasing 25.8 percent yoy. British tourist numbers increased by 15 percent yoy to 7,954, Germans by 41.6 percent yoy to 6,265 and French by 21.4 percent yoy to 3,490.
Sri Lanka continued to aggressively attract East Asian tourists, with a 33.1 percent gain yoy to 23,710. 
Chinese traveller numbers increased 71.9 percent yoy to 12,173, while Japanese numbers edged up just 1.7 percent yoy to 2,319, Malaysians increased by 23.7 percent yoy to 2,319 and Indonesian travellers declined by 27.9 percent yoy to 1,589.
Eastern European arrivals saw an increase of 25.9 percent yoy to 6,304, showing some recovery from the Russian Crisis, with Russian and Ukrainian traveller numbers increasing by 23.4 percent and 20.7 percent yoy respectively. Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau has been carrying out extensive promotions in Russia in the recent months.
Tourists from North America increased 24.8 percent yoy to 5,924, Middle Eastern travellers increased 10.5 percent yoy to 5,544 and arrivals from Australasia increased 17.6 percent yoy to 3,890. For the 5 months ending in May, a 14.5 percent yoy growth was seen, up to 714,584 travellers.
Tourists from Western Europe accounted for 228,791, showing a 14.1 percent growth yoy, South Asia accounted for 172,255 signifying an 18.5 percent growth yoy, East Asia 143,485 with a 31.8 percent growth yoy and Eastern Europe with 71,437 indicating a 13.2 percent decline yoy. (CW)