June 12, 2012
Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals in May jumped 17.5 percent from a year earlier, government data showed.
The number of visitors has risen every month since a 25-year civil war ended in May 2009.
The island nation's tourism board expects over one million tourists in 2012 with revenue of more than USD$1 billion, 20 percent higher than last year's USD$830.3 million.
Revenue from tourism has risen 26 percent to USD$340 million in the first four months of 2012 from the same period last year.
Tourism is one of the main foreign exchange earners for Sri Lanka's USD$59 billion economy, along with remittances from expatriate workers, garments and tea.
