Tourists arrivals rose by 7.8%

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 7.8 percent to 90,338 in July 2012 from a year earlier, with arrivals up to July rising 16.7 percent to 543,205, data from the state tourism promotion office showed.

Arrivals from South Asia dipped 9.7 percent to 16,837 with India, the top generating market slowing down 8.1 percent to 11,564. Visitors from the Maldives declined 7.8 percent to 3102. Visitors from Western Europe rose 22 percent to 41,584 with UK generating most tourists at 13,643 up 13.7 percent from a year earlier. German visitors rose 28 percent to 5,852 and French visitors rose 30.1 percent to 6,189.

(LBO)