Tourist arrivals on the rise

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

Tourist hotels and resorts in the Southern and Eastern Provinces are full with tourists, Economic Development Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told the Daily News yesterday.

"Some people are trying to create a rumour that tourist arrivals have decreased with the incident in Tangalle. There is no decrease in tourist arrivals to the country," he added.

"A large number of tourists arrived in Sri Lanka at the beginning of the year. We are targeting 950,000 tourist arrivals. We are also targeting an income of US $ one billion in 2012 from the tourism industry," he said.

"We targeted over 750,000 tourist arrivals last year and at the end of 2011, Sri Lanka recorded around 830,000 tourist arrivals. This is a 30 percent growth in tourist arrivals," the deputy minister said.