According to newly validated tourism arrival figures, Sri Lanka received a record 1,274,593 tourists during 2013, a 26.7% increase on the previous year – and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau in London sees great potential for Ireland to help increase visitor numbers further in 2014.
A newly established Electronic Data Capturing System comes into full effect during 2014 and, accordingly, a joint effort by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and the Emigration and Immigration Department of Sri Lanka was made to ensure that the country accurately captured the tourist arrival figures for 2013 using the standards set by the UNWTO for defining a tourist.
On a visit to Dublin earlier this year, Nalin Perera of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau in London, told Irish Travel Travel News: “We see great potential in the Irish market and we will be giving increased focus on Ireland in 2014, under our promotional campaign “Sri Lanka – Wonder of Asia’.”