Tourist arrivals up 28.5%

By Mario Andree

Ceylon FT: Tourist arrivals in the first two months of this year increased 28.5% to 288,453 from 224,511 a year earlier. Arrivals in February reached 141,878 up 24.5% from 113,968 recorded in 2013, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority data showed.

The government and the hospitality industry expects more than 1.5 million arrivals to support the ambitious goal of 2.5 million arrivals by 2016 to earn more than US$ 2.75 billion foreign exchange.

According to the industry, tourism arrivals to Sri Lanka needs to grow more than 27% annually to reach the government's expectation.

Sri Lanka managed to achieve last year's tourism target after revising data. According to Central Bank Data earnings from the sector increased 35% to US$ 1.4 billion from 1.03 billion.

India led with 35,420 arrivals up 12.9% from 31,367, followed by United Kingdom 27,212 arrivals up 9% from 24,954 and China with 21,098 arrivals up 119% from 9,624 a year earlier.

Overall tourist arrivals for the two months from North America increased 14% to 12,398 from 10,879 with arrivals in February up 4.9% to 5,489 from 5,235, while arrivals from Latin America and the Caribbean increased 51.5% to 759 from 501 with arrival in February up 49.8% to 373 from 249.

Arrivals from Western Europe, still the largest market for Sri Lanka, increased 16.7% to 98,936 from 84,764 with arrival in February up 15.7% to 52,635 from 45,481, while arrivals from Eastern Europe increased 59.6% to 47,764 from 29,929 with arrivals in February up 55.5% to 22,927 from 14,746.

Arrivals from Africa increased 53% to 1,620 from 1,059 with arrivals in February up 53.9 to 745 from 484, while arrivals from the Middle East 12.6% to 11,761 from 10,447 with arrivals in February up 16.8% to 4,919 from 4,212.

Arrivals form East Asia, the third largest market, increased 57.6% to 50,888 from 32,299 with arrivals in February up 31.2% to 25,065 from 19,099, while arrivals from South Asia, the second largest market, increased 18.4% to 54,371 from 45,911 with arrivals in February up 22.9% to 25,979 from 21,137.

Arrivals from Australasia increased 14.1% to 9,956 from 8,722 with arrivals in February up 12.7% to 3,746 from 3,325.

Ceylon FT reported that Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau last year spent more than Rs 1 billion for several promotional activities in China, India, Russia and France.

The Cabinet last month approved a proposal by the Ministry of Economic Development to conduct a comprehensive 'Global Mega Tourism Promotional Campaign'.
www.ceylontoday.lk

Related News:
Tourist Arrival by Month: http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/Page1Feb14.pdf

Tourist Arrival by Country of Residence: http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/Page2Feb14.pdf

Tourist Arrivals by Region and Top 10 Countries : http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/page3Feb14.pdf

Tourist Arrivals by Miscellaneous Countries: http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/page4Feb14.pdf

Tourist arrivals increased  and hotel occupancy dropped !

Extract from Pegasus Reef hotel & Giritale hotel report (PEG.N000 )

During the period under review both Pegasus Reef hotel & Giritale hotel experienced a dip in occupancy in comparison to the nine months ended 31st December 2012.

Overall occupancy of the group was at 41% in comparison to the 58% reported for the comparable period.

However Arrival of tourists to Sri Lanka for the nine months ended 31st December 2013 stood at 936,874, reflecting a 25.74% growth relative to the corresponding period last year.

Contrary to the increase in tourist arrivals majority of star rated hotels continued to experience stagnant occupancy levels.

Existence of unclassified accommodation and home stays which offer lower rates in comparison to the star class hotels could be attributed as the key factor for low occupancy in the industry .

Note : Backstage  mentioned  about air conditioned concrete boxes in another thread. !

Is it because of cheaper places or are these numbers correct in the first place?

First Guy wrote:Is it because of cheaper places or are these numbers correct in the first place?

"India led with 35,420 arrivals up 12.9% from 31,367"
" China with 21,098 arrivals up 119% from 9,624 a year earlier"
Cheap Tourist must also be accounted for that.