Sri Lankan April tourist arrivals slide

May 22, 2009 (LBO) – The number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka in April 2009 slid 12.4 percent to 26,054 from a year ago, with sharp falls from key markets in Europe and India, the island's tourism promotion office said. Maldivian arrivals dipped marginally by 2.7 percent to 9,160, while Pakistani arrivals almost halved to 1,762.

East Asian arrivals came down 14.8 percent to 13,632, while Chinese arrivals dipped 25.2 percent to 62,890.

Japanese arrivals fell by almost 12.2 percent to 3,368 while those from Australia decreased 12.0 percent to 3,368, from the corresponding four months of 2008

European visitors dipped almost 10 percent to 10,489 in April with the end of the main winter tourist season and also owing to recession and bad news generated by an internal war that ended earlier this week.

Tourist arrivals from Britain which contributes the highest share to total arrivals fell 3.0 percent to 5,213 in April, from the same period last year, while German arrivals fell 25.3 percent to 1,869 visitors.

Dutch arrivals in April fell 35 percent to 1,062, while Italian arrivals dived 41.8 percent to 309.

French arrivals for the month gained 63.4 percent to 585.

The western European co