Peace in Sri Lanka is translating by a higher number of foreign travellers. From January to October, total arrivals to the country are up by 16% with the one-million travellers’ target likely to be reached.
COLOMBO- According to a report from the Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka largest English-written newspaper, the number of foreign tourists increased 16 percent to 774,151 during the first 10 months of this year compared to 667,569 last year. Just for October, tourist arrivals rose 15.5 percent compared to the corresponding month in 2011. The growth percentage in October however slowed down from September when a growth of 18.1 percent was recorded.
The number of arrivals last year was 855,975. Sri Lanka Tourism has set an ambitious target of attracting one million visitors by the end of this year. Tourism industry experts are optimistic that the country will reach this target due to the steady growth on a monthly basis.
Experts however stress the need for an adequate number of hotel rooms and skilled workers to woo visitors.
Sri Lanka was recognised as one of the safest destinations to travel by a globally renowned magazine this year. Fifteen Lankan chefs also brought honour to the country by winning 14 Gold medals at the Culinary Olympics in Germany. “We should not be over-confident and complacent about our achievements. Hard work will bring more dividends for the tourism industry” a Sri Lanka Tourism official said to the Sunday Observer.
The Latin American and Caribbean market has been a key contributor to the growth in tourist arrivals this year with numbers up by 66.2 percent during the first 10 months of this year. Eastern Europe and Africa were the other contributors to the growth last month, with a respective increase of 51.6 percent and 53.6 percent. Western Europe performed also extremely well, being up by 17 percent over 2011.
However, the weakening Indian rupee depressed tourist arrivals’ numbers from. South Asia recorded only a moderate growth of 3.2 percent to 193,465. Visitors from the Middle East dropped 1.3 percent from January to October this year.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
