Reports now show that Sri Lanka has seen a significant increase in tourist arrivals in the country this year when compared to figures from last year. This is according to statistics that were published by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.The report shows that, until November of this year, Sri Lanka had seen 569,849 tourists arrive. This is a 47 percent increase over 2009 numbers. Just last week, tourism officials welcomed the 600,000th tourist, who was a British national, to Sri Lanka during the 2010 year.
The British High Commission in Colombo said that tourists arriving from Britain had increase following the UK government’s decision to lift the restrictions against travel to Sri Lanka. It is easy to see how much the lifting of restrictions has helped this area.
From January to November, 95,320 British tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2010. This is a 30.8 percent increase over last year’s numbers. The British tourist arrivals this year accounted for about 17 percent of the area’s total visitors to the country. This proves how big of a role that Britain plays in this area’s tourism industry.
Of course, British tourists were only the second highest number to visit Sri Lanka in 2010. India was able to claim the top spot with 111,129 people visiting Sri Lanka this year. The High Commission expects the arrivals from the UK to surpass 125,000 by the end of this year.
Deputy High Commissioner Mark Gooding, when commenting on these statistics, said that the historical connection between the UK and Sri Lanka means a lot to British nationals. After all, the area was a former British colony.
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