Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka surged by 50.3% during the first quarter of 2010, with 160,409 arrivals in comparison to 106,702 during the same period last year.

Arrivals for the month of March 2010 recorded 52,352, which was 53.7%, more than the 34,065 in the same month last year. Significantly, this is the fourth consecutive month in which the country has had more than 50,000 arrivals, and the 10th successive month with an increase over the previous year, SriLankan Airlines reported.

A dozen countries sent more than 3,000 tourists to Sri Lanka during this period. The United Kingdom (27,487) was in first place, narrowly beating second placed India (26,131). Germany (15,431) was well set in third place, followed by France (8,584) in forth, and the Maldives (8,066) in fifth place.

Australia (6,522) was sixth, Canada (4,746) seventh, the United States (4,476) eighth, Russia (4,447) ninth, the Netherlands (4,195) tenth, Japan (3,776) eleventh, and Malaysia (3,028) twelfth. Four more countries - Italy (2,725), China (2,510), Switzerland (2,423) and Singapore (2,288) had between 2,000 and 3,000 tourists to Sri Lanka during the first quarter.

In addition, seven countries sent between 1,000 and 2,000 tourists; Pakistan (1,892), Australia (1,803), Sweden (1,569), South Korea (1,392), Taiwan (1,309), Belgium (1,238), and Denmark (1,040).

The highest increases by percentage among major markets (over 3,000 arrivals) during the quarter were Malaysia (278%), Canada (93%), Germany (89%), India (79%), France (63%), Japan (45%), Australia (41%), United States (40%), United Kingdom (34%), Netherlands (29%) and Maldives (12%), SriLankan Airlines further said.