Sri Lanka woos tourists from India, expecting more growth this year

Sri Lanka is expecting a healthy growth in the number of Indian tourists arrivals this year as the island nation is out to woo travellers even from smaller cities, a senior Lankan tourism official said here today.

Sri Lanka has seen a substantial growth in tourist arrivals from India last year, with over 3.84 lakh travellers.

"However, this year we are targeting 4.50 lakh tourists from India," Viranga Bandara, Assistant Director-Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said here today.

"Mainly, we get tourists from the main metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, those are main tourism generating hubs for Sri Lanka tourism. But we are also targeting smaller cities," he said.

Upekkha Samaratunga, Minister (Commercial) Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi, said that according to Sri Lanka tourism statistics, "India is No. 1 when it comes to inward traffic to the island nation."
About Sri Lankan food, she said that there is lot of similarity "in our cuisine and what we find in many parts of south India. We also use lot of coconut in our preparations, like it is used in south India."