January tourist arrivals up 24%; tourists from China soar 122%

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in January 2016 rose 24.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 194,280, Sri Lanka tourism office data showed.

The January arrivals were boosted by a massive influx of Chinese tourists— an increase of 122.3 percent YoY to 26,083.

China appears to be closing in becoming the single largest tourist source market for Sri Lanka, overtaking India.

Indian arrivals to the island in January only grew 25.9 percent YoY to 28,895.

Arrivals from Western Europe rose 23.8 percent YoY to 63,690, led by the UK, Germany and France. 
Tourists from Eastern Europe showed a moderate growth with arrivals from Russia falling 9.5 percent YoY to 8,358.

Arrivals from East Asia, dominated by Chinese tourists, rose 48.1 percent YoY to 38,807. Tourists from Japan and Indonesia showed declines. 

Arrivals from South Asia, dominated by India, rose 20.7 percent YoY to 45,501. Tourists from the Maldives rose 13.3 percent YoY to 6,908.

Tourist arrivals from the Middle East rose 14.7 percent YoY to 10,109. Arrivals from Australasia, which mainly includes Australia and New Zealand, rose 17.9 percent YoY to 7,750.

According to the tourism office statistics, 1.8 million tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2015, short of the two million target that had been set. 

This year, the country targets 2.5 million tourists.

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”.