Sri Lanka's tourist arrival grows 7 pct in February

COLOMBO, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Over 250,000 Tourists arrived in Sri Lanka in February, posting a 7-percent growth year-on-year, statistics from Sri Lanka's Ministry of Tourism showed Monday.

India, Britain, China, France and Germany were Sri Lanka's top five international tourist-generating markets while Russia and the United States also recorded a significant growth.

The ministry said 28,039 out of 252,033 Tourists arrivals were from China in February.

In the first two months of this year, Sri Lanka welcomed over 490,000 Tourists. Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga said it was on the right track to achieve the target of 3 million Tourists this year.

Amaratunga said the ministry aims to attract at least 300,000 Chinese Tourists this year, with ongoing publicity campaigns in several cities across China.

The ministry expects to earn a revenue of 5 billion U.S. dollars in the tourism industry this year.