Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is picking up pace with a marked increase in arrivals which had affected after the Easter Sunday terror attacks on churches and hotels, official sources said.
Kishu Gomes, chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau revealed that In the last few days over 4,500 tourist arrivals have recorded a day on average.
This was because of improved security and efforts to promote the island as a tourist destination, headed.
Tourist arrivals gradually recovered in June 2019 from the impact of the Easter Sunday attacks, Central Bank announced
Accordingly, tourist arrivals increased by 66.8 per cent to 63,072 in June 2019 in comparison to 37,802 in May 2019.
However, tourist arrivals in June 2019 registered a year-on-year decline of 57.0 per cent.
The drop in tourist arrivals was mainly due to the decline in the number of tourists from key destinations such as India, China, the United Kingdom and Australia in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks.
The decline in arrivals from India and China accounted for 41.6 per cent of the total decline in June 2019.
Earnings from tourism were estimated at US dollars 118 million in June 2019, in comparison to US dollars 276 million in June 2018.
On a cumulative basis, earnings from tourism were estimated at US dollars 1,893 million during the first six months of 2019 compared to US dollars 2,186 million during the corresponding period of 2018.
(LI)