Arrivals from the United Kingdom grew to 61.1 percent to 21,971 tourists, overtaking the Chinese market, which fell 1.8 percent to 18,888 tourists, data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion office said.Sri Lanka had a cricket series with England, with their ‘Barmy Army’ travelling with the team, which helped boost arrivals. About 20 percent of the tourists came from India, with arrivals growing 21.4 percent from a year earlier to 39,137.German arrivals grew 89.6 percent to 18,754 tourists, with a sixth of them coming on cruise ships.

With better air connectivity, Australia jumped up to the top five markets for Sri Lanka tourism, overtaking Russia and the Maldives. Arrivals from Australia grew 51.9 percent to 10,299 tourists.By region, 47 percent of the tourists came from Asia and Pacific, while 43 percent came from Europe in November.