July records 2nd highest monthly tourist arrivals ever

Tourist volumes to Sri Lanka in July grew 31.2 percent year-on-year (yoy) to the highest ever arrivals of 175,804, with China overtaking India as the largest tourism source market for the first time.

The largest regional market continued to be Western Europe with an 18.3 percent yoy growth to 64,905. British arrivals increased 23.7 percent yoy to 20,643, while French arrivals declined marginally by 0.2 percent yoy to 9,080. Dutch arrivals jumped up 56.6 percent yoy to 8,741, overtaking German tourist arrivals which grew 7.2 percent yoy to 8,494.

East Asian arrivals rose 37.5 percent yoy to 35,572, with Chinese arrivals rising 65.5 percent yoy to 25,120 while Japanese tourist numbers fell by 12.7 percent yoy to 2,797. Korean arrivals rose 16 percent yoy to 1,447.

Tourist visits from South Asia rose 36.3 percent yoy to 36,360, with Indian arrivals rising 28 percent yoy to 24,681, Maldivians 23.3 percent yoy to 6,032,Pakistanis 180.8 percent yoy to 3,445 and Bangladesh 63.8 percent yoy to 1,412.

Middle Eastern arrivals rose 167.6 percent yoy to 16,053 with tourists from Saudi Arabia increasing 297.3 percent yoy to 7,092, Omani travellers increasing 670.4 percent yoy to 2,997, and those from UAE increasing 116.4 percent yoy to 1,803.

The increase of travellers from the Islamic countries could be attributed to Eid holidays.

North American arrival increased 12.8 percent yoy to 8,158 with U.S. based arrivals increasing 19.1 percent yoy to 4,161, while visits from Canada increased 6.8 percent yoy to 3,997.

Eastern European arrivals increased 16.7 percent yoy to 7,378 with Russian arrivals continuing to fall; by 5.1 percent yoy to 2,514 while Ukrainian tourist levels increased 31.5 percent yoy to 1,353.

Australasian arrivals edged up 1.3 percent yoy to 5,926 with Australian tourist numbers falling 0.04 percent to 5,122, with the growth from New Zealand making for a marginally positive growth.

The seasonality of the past years in Sri Lanka tourism is appeared to have disappeared, with an off-peak month bringing the highest volume for 2015, while the levels have remained above 110,000 through the 7 months.

The July arrivals fall just below the highest-ever 178,672 monthly arrivals recorded in December 2014.

In the year-to-date, 1,005,855 tourists have arrived, signifying a 16.8 percent yoy growth. The target for this year presented by the past regime had been 2 million arrivals.

Western Europe remained the largest regional market for the 7 months with 321,472 arrivals at a growth rate of 15.4 percent yoy. South Asian arrivals increased 21 percent to 245,587, while East Asian arrivals rose 31 percent yoy to 205,274.

India remained the highest source market, drawing 170,134 arrivals with a 27.4 percent yoy growth, while Chinese arrivals rose 77.6 percent yoy to 119,705 and British rose 12.6 percent yoy to 93,223.

(CW)