Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 11.8 percent from a year earlier to 186,288 in August 2016, with total visitors up 16 percent to 1.359 million, the state tourism promotion office said.
Arrivals from India, Sri Lanka’s top source market, rose only 3.7 percent in August to 24,418, with total arrivals this year up 16 percent to 224,924 so far. From the rest of South Asia, visitors from Pakistan rose 13 percent to 3,171, Bangladesh was up 14.4 percent to 1,110 and Maldives fell 4.2 percent to 6,739.
Visitors from China rose 11.3 percent to 27,519, overtaking India during the month, with total arrivals growing 32 percent to 190,992, still behind India. Japanese visitors rose 7.6 percent to 5,179, Singapore was up 19 percent to 1,561 and Malaysia increased 4.4 percent to 1,817.
Arrivals from Europe rose 16.4 percent to 64,942, with UK visitors up 14.3 percent to 20,475. Saudi Arabian visitors surged 91 percent to 9,338, but visitors from Israel was down 40 percent to 1,297. Numbers from the UAE, Kuwait and Oman were also down.