Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals in the month of February rose 16.7 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 165, 541, amid a surge in Chinese tourists, the data released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed.

The arrivals from East Asia spiked 67.2 percent yoy to 41, 907 with Chinese arrivals rocketing 165.8 percent yoy to 27, 425. Arrivals from Japan also rose 35.6 percent yoy to 4, 541.

Visitors from South Asian region rose 11.7 percent yoy to 29, 011 with arrivals from India increasing 14.1 percent yoy to 19, 999. Arrivals from Maldives edged down 3.5 percent yoy to 5, 354.

Tourist arrivals from Western Europe rose 15.5 percent yoy to 60, 777 with a 20 percent yoy increase to 12, 742 from France. Tourists from the UK and Germany rose 6.3 percent yoy to 15, 212 and 15.5 percent yoy to 13, 056, respectively.

Arrivals from Eastern Europe fell 24.4 percent amid visitors from Russia and Ukraine continued to slide.

Russian tourist arrivals fell 30.2 percent yoy to 6, 787 and visitors from Ukraine declined 62.8 percent yoy 1, 827. 

Both Russia and Ukraine are currently in political and economic turmoil. The respective currencies have faced significant slides against the US dollar.
Sri Lanka targets two million tourists at the end of this year and 2.5 million by 2016. 

Sri Lanka Tourism follows the UN standard of defining a tourist as a person who stays at least one night in a country and does not exceed his stay period for more than 12 months.