Arrivals from Western Europe, the traditional tourist generating market, rose 36.3 percent to 21,230 in January 2010 from a year ago. The number of visitors from the UK went up 24.6 percent to 8,225, those from France up 25.9 percent to 2,272 and from Germany up 54.1 percent to 4,470. The tourism office figures showed an increase in the number of tourist arrivals from Western Europe, East Asia and India.

The percentage of tourist arrivals from South Asia, a relatively newer tourist generating market for the island, was up 44.3 percent to 12,524 in January 2010 from a year earlier. The numbers were boosted by a surge in visitors from India, up 73.5 percent to 9,141, following promotions in the sub-continent by the Sri Lanka tourism authority. The increase in Indian tourists is attributed to the visa policies being easy. Sri Lanka now gives visas on arrival to tourists from India, which has become the main tourist generating market for Sri Lanka since 2008.

Tourist arrivals from the Middle East, another new market Sri Lanka is targeting, rose 50.1 percent. The arrivals from the Eastern Europe rose 8.7 percent. Arrivals from East Asia increased 18.9 percent and from Japan up by 42.5 percent to 1,227.

Sri Lanka was recently ranked as the number one tourist destination by the 'New York Times' in its list of "31 Places to go in 2010".

Just days after this ranking, a leading lifestyle web resource, Daily Candy, weighed in with a similarly enthusiastic travel recommendation, praising Sri Lanka as “the best place ever been”.

Tourist arrivals in the country increased sharply from May in 2009 after defeating terrorism, ending Sri Lanka's 30-year war.