Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka surpass 1 million mark in July as Chinese market booms

This year’s tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka surpassed the one million mark this July, signifying a continuing momentum for the country’s growing tourist arrival rate.

The country welcomed 175,804 tourists in July, which represents a 31.2% increase compared to the same month last year, and the country’s largest-ever arrival figure. Consequently, the number of tourists for the first seven months of 2015 rose to 1.005 million, bringing the total performance to a strong growth of 17% compared to that of last year.

Arrivals in July, which is off-season in traditional Western European markets, surpassed 2015’s best month of February, which recorded 165,541 visitors. July also recorded the highest year-on-year growth in 2015 so far.

With 25,120 Chinese tourists arriving in July, the percentage rose by 65.5% bringing its total in the first seven months of 2015 to 119,705, up 77.6%, compared to the same period last year. The biggest source market, India, increased their number of arrivals by 24,681 in July, up 28% when compared to the same period last year. Its cumulative figure is now 170,134, up by 27.4%.

The UK, which is now third, saw a growth of 24% to 20,642 in July and 93,223 up to July reflecting a 12.6% growth.