Chinese tourist arrivals soar in Jan-June, beats traditional markets, UK and Germany
View(s):Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka are rising to never-before levels and last month broke two records, beating once top markets – the UK and Germany in sheer numbers.
Statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority for end June 2014 showed that while Indian arrivals were the highest at 114,238, up 23.6 per cent from the same 2013 period, the surprise entry was China beating traditional market Germany. Arrivals from China totalled 53,230, up sharply by 137.2 per cent from 22,023 in the same 6-month period in 2013. In the case of Germany, arrivals totalled 49,852, an increase of 23 per cent from last year. On a month-on-month basis (June 2014 and June 2013), China also beat the UK in the numbers game.
Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka in the first six months to June 2014 rose by 24.6 per cent to 727,353, well on target for expected arrivals for the whole year.
June tourist arrivals at 103,175, increased by 14 per compared to the same period last year.
In the same month, South Asia recorded the highest arrivals at 30,950 with East Asia following close at 22,000 and Western Europe at 23,205 visitors. However, Middle Eastern traffic had dropped by 12 per cent to 9, 895 from the previous year’s June figure of 11, 245, it was noted.
The Indian market picked up sizably with over 30 per cent growth at 19,911 arrivals while Chinese visitors increased significantly from 3,707 to 8,345 this June. UK increased by a marginal 1.9 per cent to 7,790 and Germany picked up by 27 per cent to 4,328.
| Sri Lanka, a fascinating destination for Chinese tourists
By Raj Moorthy A group of Chinese visitors who arrived last Tuesday on the inaugural SriLankan Airlines charter flight to Colombo from China, were fascinated to be in the island. Most of them were first time visitors to Sri Lanka from Chongqing in south-west China and were thrilled to explore the country.  Chinese visitors The SriLankan Airlines A320 aircraft carrying a full load of 140 Chinese passengers, arrived at the BIA by 4.05 p.m local time with local media being taken for the elaborate airport welcome by the local charter organisers, Walkers Tours which is part of John Keells Holdings (JKH). Kapila Chandrasena, Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, told the Business Times on the sidelines of the arrival, that, “China is a big market for Sri Lanka and there are very aggressive tourism targets as the country is hoping to hit 2.5 million tourists by 2016. Looking at the economic growth of China and the population, it gives Sri Lanka a lot of opportunity to attract more and more tourists into the country.” Most of the Chinese delegates are first time visitors to Sri Lanka and are from a Chinese travel agency in China and will be in the country till July 8, one of the visitors told the Business Times. JKH, Head of Destination Management Sector, Executive Vice President Vasantha Leelananda said that from the beginning of 2014, a sharp growth in Chinese tourists visiting Sri Lanka has been seen compared to last year. “We are expecting 130,000 to 140,000 tourists from China to visit Sri Lanka next year,” he said. Mr. Leelananda also noted that China is becoming the fastest outbound travel market in the world where Sri Lanka started from a very low base, but we see exponential growth year-on-year. This charter flight would expose a completely different part of China to Sri Lanka. The new SriLankan Airlines charter flight is scheduled to depart Colombo at 2340 hrs to arrive in Chongqing at 1015 hrs local time on every Mondays. The flight will leave Chongqing at 1115 hrs to arrive in Colombo via Bangkok at 1605 hrs every Tuesday. |