Total tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose by 17.5 percent in April compared to the corresponding period of 2016, reaching 160,249.

Western European visitor arrivals increased by 40.9 percent year-on-year in April, Russian tourists rose by 12.8 percent and those from Spain increased by 111 percent.

Meanwhile, steady feeder countries saw reduced growth whereby Indian visitors only increased by 1.7 percent and tourists from China rose by 4.5 percent to 19,823.