COLOMBO, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Over 115,000 tourists visited Sri Lanka in July, an 83-percent growth from a month earlier, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) was quoted by local media as saying on Monday.
Following the Easter Sunday terror attacks on April 21, Sri Lanka's tourism industry was the worst affected with arrivals dropping to 37,000 in May and 63,000 in June.
The SLTDA said the number of arrivals in July had however crossed the 100,000 mark and recorded an impressive growth from June, although tourist arrivals for July were down 46.9 percent to 115,701 from a year earlier, due to the suicide explosions.
"The market has significantly shown progress over the past few weeks and we are happy to notice that the occupancy rates are increasing in hotels across Sri Lanka," SLTDA Director General Upali Ratnayake said.
"Further, we are hopeful that the industry will have a satisfactory season from October onwards," he said.
India, China and Britain have been the top three markets for Sri Lanka Tourism.
Over 97,000 tourists from China have arrived in Sri Lanka till June this year, official statistics from the SLTDA showed.
Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga said last week that the government was expecting at least 1.9 million to 2 million tourists by the end of this year.
