Monday Jan 11, 2010
COLOMBO, Jan 6 - Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose by 2.1 percent in 2009 from a year ago to 447,890 visitors as the Indian ocean island nation ended its quarter-century war, the government said on Wednesday.

COLOMBO, Jan 6 - Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose by 2.1 percent in 2009 from a year ago to 447,890 visitors as the Indian ocean island nation ended its quarter-century war, the government said on Wednesday.

The island nation received 438,475 tourists in 2008 and December arrivals rose 16.2 percent to 56,862 year-on-year, tourism board data showed.

Sri Lanka defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May, which Tourism Board Chairman Bernard Goonetilleke credited for the year-on-year rise.

Source: Reuters