China among top three, nearly 100,000 Chinese tourists visit Sri Lanka until April this year
The Chinese media has reported that nearly 100,000 Chinese tourists had visited Sri Lanka till April this year, making China among the top three countries generating the most number of tourists to the island country, as noted in the statistics from the Tourism Ministry.
According to Xinhua, in April, 17,462 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka, making China the third largest market. India and Britain were the other two top markets last month.
The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in April was 180,429, a 12.6 percent growth from the same period last year.
By the end of April this year, 888,353 tourists had visited Sri Lanka, a 16.1 percent growth over the same period last year when 765,202 tourists visited the country.
The Xinhua report states that in a bid to attract more Chinese travelers, Sri Lankan Tourism Minister John Amaratunga has said last week that the Sri Lankan government had signed an agreement with a leading Chinese tour operator.
Amaratunga has said China is an important destination for Sri Lankan tourism and the government hopes to attract over 300,000 Chinese tourists at the end of this year.
The Minister has been further quoted as saying that the government will target a revenue of US$ 4.4 billion through its tourism sector this year.
OSL take:
The increase in Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka could be used to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) in to the country’s tourism industry. Local businesses could use the increase in Chinese tourists to the country to promote their local products to be promoted in the massive consumer market in China. Chinese companies could use the close trade and tourism links between China and Sri Lanka to form business partnerships and joint ventures.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/15052018/Z_4 |