Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka grow 7.3% in first half of 2008

Tourist arrivals from China to Sri Lanka grew by 7.3 % in the first half of 2008 over the same period a year ago, Sri Lanka's national carrier SriLankan Airlines said Thursday in a statement.

Figures from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority showed that the island attracted 5,383 Chinese tourists for the first half of 2008, comparing with the 5,016 Chinese tourists recorded in the same period of 2007.

The increase came as Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals dropped 0.2 percent to 224,363 in the first six months of 2008 from the same period of last year.