Colombo, Sep 28 (FN Agency) Sri Lanka’s battered tourism industry is back on the road to revival, with some 21,000 tourists coming to the island nation in the first three weeks of September. Provisional data shared by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed that 21,068 international visitors entered the country in this period, the Daily Mirror reported on Wednesday. The first week of September attracted 7,182 tourists while the second and third weeks welcomed 6,408 and 7,478 tourists respectively.
The top three tourist traffic generators for September were India (22 per cent), the United Kingdom (9.5 per cent) and Australia (7.9 per cent). For January 1 to September 21 this year, Sri Lanka welcomed a total of 517,498 tourists from around the world. “Over the years, provincial economies and rural communities have greatly benefited whilst contributing towards the tourism model of the country,” the newspaper quoted SLTDA Chairman Priantha Fernando as saying.