13. April 2010
NEWS
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 53.7-pct in March
Sri Lanka's
March 2010 tourist arrivals rose 53.7 percent to 52,352 from a year
earlier
with more visitors from Western
Europe, Middle East
and South Asia coming to
the island. The tourist arrivals from Western
Europe
rose 48.6 percent to 21,797 in March 2010 from a year ago with arrivals
from
the UK up 30.1
percent to 8,559, France up 63.1
percent to 2,872 and Germany up 96.5
percent to 5,305. Eastern
Europe
arrivals were up 21.8 percent to 3,421. Sri Lanka's tourism
industry is
seeing further growth with arrivals increasing by over 50 percent in
the first
quarter of 2010 compared to last year. Tourist arrivals for the last
three
months have seen a 50.3 percent growth from 106,702 to 160,409 arrivals
year-on-year. Tourist arrivals in the country
increased sharply from May in 2009 after defeating terrorism, ending Sri Lanka's 30-year
war.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka has been
rated among the top 10 most affordable
destinations in the world, according to the German-language Yahoo!
Travel Magazine.
The National Geographic Channel recently in an exclusive report
categorized Sri Lanka as the
second best place to visit, accrediting the country
as the "Wonder of the World." Sri Lanka was also
ranked as the number one tourist destination by
the 'New York Times' in its list of "31 Places to go in 2010". Just
days after this ranking, a leading lifestyle web resource, Daily Candy,
weighed
in with a similarly enthusiastic travel recommendation, praising Sri
Lanka as
“the best place ever been”.
Source: http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/mobile/fullstory.php?nid=424741657
http://de.reisen.yahoo.com/p-werbung-3311508