Sri Lanka Jan tourist arrivals at record high; up 12.6pc

COLOMBO: Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka rose to a record high in January, were up 12.6 percent compared to a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday.

Tourist arrivals in 2017 hit a record high with the number of foreign visitors rising 3.2 percent to 2.1 million while revenue also rose by a similar percentage to an all-time peak of $3.63 billion.

Tourism accounts for nearly 5 percent of Sri Lanka's $81 billion economy and the island-nation targets 2.3 million tourists this year.