Sri Lanka Feb tourist arrivals up 19.3pc y/y

COLOMBO: Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka jumped 19.3 percent in February from a year earlier, while the number of visitors in the first two months rose 13.8 percent year-on-year, government data showed on Monday.

Tourist arrivals in 2017 had risen 3.2 percent to a record high of 2.1 million, with revenue also climbing 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.