Tourist arrivals reached a historic peak in December 2012 at a recorded 122,252 arrivals during the month, against 97,517 arrivals in 2011.

Total arrivals into Sri Lanka across 2012 stood at 1,005,605, reflecting a Year-on-Year growth of 17.5%.

Notably, arrivals from Western Europe rebounded by 18.4% YoY to reach 373,063 by the end of the year despite continuing financial volatility in the region.

The United Kingdom was the highest source of arrivals from the region at 114,218, amounting however to just 7.7% more than the previous year. Arrivals from Germany, another traditionally strong market for Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, were recorded at 71,642, against 55,882 arrivals during the previous year.

Meanwhile, arrivals from other destinations across Western Europe all saw notable increases, particularly countries like Switzerland with 20,054 arrivals, up by 42.1%, along with Spain at 41.3% and Norway with a 54.8% increase in arrivals.

 All other countries in the region also displayed double-digit percentage increases in arrivals figures over the year.

Arrivals from the South Asian region grew by a nominal 4.2% YoY reaching 247,599 with India accounting for the majority of visits from the region at 176,340, against 171,374 in 2011.

Maldives accounted for the second largest amount of arrivals from the region at 47,572, a growth of 8.1% YoY, a possible symptom of joint tourist packages which cover both countries.

Eastern Europe, a relatively new market the country’s tourist sector, also grew a sharp 43.6% YoY to reach 72,401 arrivals by the end of the year. Arrivals from Russia were recorded at 28,402, up 32.8% YoY however arrivals from Ukraine spiked by 124.2% to 22,348.

This year’s peak in arrivals at the end of the year was preceded by a 20.1% YoY increase in November at a 109,202. The next highest arrivals were in the months of March and July at 91,102 and 90,338 respectively.

The government is targeting 1.25 million arrivals to the Sri Lanka by the end of this year.