Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka jump 75 pct

The number of Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka have boomed by over 75 percent during the first nine months of this year, recording one of the highest growth rates for the lucrative industry, official date showed here on Thursday.

Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals jumped by 26.2 percent in September this year compared to the same period last year, according to data released by State-run Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

The month recorded 89,761 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 71,111 arrived in September 2012.

However, the numbers recorded a decline from August 2013 with arrivals falling from the third highest figure of 100,224.

Tourist arrivals recorded a 15.5 percent increase in the first nine months of this year with 801,210 tourists arriving in the island.

One of the largest increases came from Chinese tourists, increasing 75.4 percent in 2013 when compared with the same time period of the previous year.

This means that Chinese arrivals rose from 16,623 to 29,153 in the first nine months of 2013.

It is also the highest escalation among the major players in Sri Lanka's lucrative post-war tourism industry.

China is already the eighth main destination for the local travel sector with projections for a significant increase towards the end of 2013 and the years ahead, industry experts believe.

A large contingent of Chinese tour operators are also expected to arrive in Sri Lanka on a promotional tour on the sidelines of the mega Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) being hosted by Sri Lanka next month.

The Chinese industry officials will be among 100 tour operators from over a dozen countries that will be flying into Sri Lanka to promote its tourism industry that has tied up with the most important summit held by the 53 countries belonging to the Commonwealth.

The Chinese business delegation is also expected to attend the summit, which kicks off on Nov. 10.

Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Bhashwara Gunarathna told media there would be 82 tourism industry participants at the exposition, taking up 100 stalls.

"We are very keen to use this opportunity to promote Sri Lanka as a great tourist destination to all the countries attending CHOGM and its related events," he told reporters.

The Chinese tourist numbers are indicative of steps taken by the Sri Lankan government to increase awareness of the tropical island as a destination with plans to sponsor 100 Chinese travel agents this year.

The Economic Development Ministry has also been keen to invite media crews to do shows on Sri Lanka with a dozen teams visiting the country since December 2012.

Sri Lanka attracted over 1 million tourists in 2012.

It has set a target of 1.25 million for 2013 and hopes to attract 2.5 million tourists by 2016. To achieve this mark Sri Lanka needs 100,000 Chinese tourists by 2016.

The industry passed 1 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for the first time in history last year.