Sri Lanka Feb tourist arrivals up 19.3pc

COLOMBO, Mar 19 (Reuters): Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka jumped 19.3 per cent in February from a year earlier, while the number of visitors in the first two months rose 13.8 per cent year-on-year, government data showed on Monday.

Tourist arrivals in 2017 had risen 3.2 per cent 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 5.0 per cent of Sri Lanka's $81 billion economy and the island-nation targets 2.3 million tourists this year.