Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka rose to a record 1.52 million for the whole of last year, up 19.8 per cent from 1.27 million in 2013, official data released by Sri Lanka Tourism (SLT) showed on Tuesday.
The top source market once again was India with 242,734 arrivals, up 16.3 per cent from 208,795 in 2013 while in second position was the UK with 144,168 visitors, just marginally up by 4.9 per cent from 137,416.
Most markets showed double digit growth with the largest increase coming from China where arrivals soared by 136.1 per cent to 128,166 from 54,288 in 2013. The increase was largely due to aggressive marketing by the SLT in Chinese cities. Arrivals from Germany rose by 20.5 per cent to 102,977 from 85,470 while visitors from France totalled 78,883 from 64,388 in 2013, again a 22.5 per cent increase. – ENDS -
A Sri Lankan man was apprehended at Suvarnabhumi airport for attempting to smuggle wildlife out of the country after three ball pythons were found hidden in his underwear, the Bangkok post reported.
The UK government has unveiled a package of reforms to simplify imports from developing countries which allows for more garments manufactured in Sri Lanka to enter the UK tariff-free.
Read these and more on tomorrow’s edition of the Sunday Times
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