October tourist arrivals grow 15.5 percent; Chinese tourist inflows to Maldives continue

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during the month of October increased by 15.5% Year-on-Year (YoY) to 80,379, whilst total arrivals from the start of the year increased by 16% to 774,151, the data issued by Sri Lanka Tourist Board showed.

In terms of region, the highest number of arrivals on both a monthly and cumulative basis was from Western Europe which recorded 24,303 arrivals during the month, up by 3.7% YoY. From January, the region recorded 293,472, an increase of 17% YoY, indicating a potential resurgence despite the region’s current economic woes.

The majority of visitors from Western Europe were from the United Kingdom, at 8,767, a notable 18.3% increase, followed by Germany with 5,485 arrivals, a 6.9% increase.

Arrivals from the South Asian region stood at 23,538 during the month, as compared with 22,689 last year whilst on a cumulative basis, the country recorded arrivals at 193,465, an increase of 3.2%.

Notably arrivals from India dropped by 1.5% to 17,654 during the month, whilst still remaining the highest single source of arrivals for the country on a monthly and cumulative basis.

Arrivals from the East Asian region during the month increased from 8,261 last year to 11,168 and 31.1% YoY to 100,678 from January with visitors from China increasing to 2,200, from 1,099 last year.

Arrivals from Russia grew up 18.9% YoY to 2,559, less than arrivals from Ukraine, which increased by a drastic 79.9% to 2,600 visitors.

Meanwhile, data showed that total tourist arrivals to Maldives grew by 6.9% YoY in September with 76,806 visitors whilst on a cumulative basis, arrivals stood at 691,608, an increase of 3.4% YoY.

The country continued to attract more tourists from China, with 25,178 arrivals during the month, as against 20,107 arrivals in the previous year. However, arrivals from the European region declined by 3.2% YoY to 33,975 arrivals during the month.

The country also recorded a 20.1% YoY decrease in arrivals from the United Kingdom to reach 7,106, however arrivals from Germany increased from 6,956 last year to 8,248 in 2012.