Latest government data shows that for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, tourist arrivals during the 10 months of this year has passed the 1.2 million mark. The significant feature is the huge increase in the arrival of Chinese tourist to Sri Lanka.

According to this data, 1,228,754 tourists have arrived in Sri Lanka up to October 2014 while the same period last year had recorded an arrival of 1,011,255 tourists. The increase is 21.5 per cent.

A significant feature is the arrival of 106,888 Chinese tourists within the 10 months of this year. There had been only 44,742 Chinese tourist arrivals during the same period last year. This is an increase of 138.9 per cent over last year.

The most number of tourists to Sri Lanka during the 10 months of this year has been from Western Europe, which is 387,215.

The second highest has been from South Asia, the number being 294,075.

The third place is occupied by South East Asia with the number of tourist arrivals being 229,870.