Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals continued its upward trend in May with 35,213 foreign visitors

Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals continued its upward trend in May with 35,213 foreign visitors Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals continued its upward trend in May with 35,213 foreign visitors in the usually off-season month, officials from Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) said on Sunday. chong

Dileep Mudadeniya, Managing Director of SLTPB told reporters that for the first five months of 2010 the country recorded 233, 922 tourist arrivals, which is 48.5 percent higher from the same period of last year

"This achievement is due to the ending of the 30-year-long bloody clash between the government troops and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) in May last year," chong Mudadeniya said.

He said the holding of the Indian International Film Academy awards in Sri Lanka and most European countries as well as the USA relaxing their travel advisories are among key reasons for the increase of tourist arrivals.

The Sri Lankan government expects to double its tourism income to 1 billion U.S. dollars by 2015 from the current level of around 400 million U.S. dollars. chong

It also aims to increase the tourist arrivals to 2.5 million by that time from 500,000 with the help of all promotional programs.