May Arrivals grow by 26.1% whilst cumulative cross 714,584

Sri Lanka Tourism giving leadership to the country on driving visitor arrivals welcomed Miss Earth Jamie Harrel at the back drop Tourist Earnings from tourism recording a year-on-year growth of 13.6% to $ 956.8 million during the first four months of 2015 compared to $ 850.3 million recorded during the same period in 2014.The board of Directors of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau Vasantha Leelananda, Mahen Kariyawasam, Tissa Devindra, Asoka Hettigoda, Amal Gunatileka together with Chairman Rohantha Athukorala shared the key actions that Sri Lanka Tourism is taking as the world celebrate globally, World Environment day on the 5th of June 2015.

Miss Earth Jamie Harrell with the Board of Directors of Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau 

The Chairman Rohantha Athukorala mentioned that even though there has been a spike of 11 places in the Global Tourism Index the performance by Sri Lanka for the year 2015, in the Environment Sustainability pillar we are at a low ebb of 103 given that on an attribute like forest cover,  Sri Lanka dropped from 54% to 29% in the last two decades which is very serious. Miss Earth Jamie Harrel commended Rotary Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka a Tourism together with HNB on the landmark project “One million tree stories” as she planted the 500,000th tree sampling at the Sri Lanka Tourism premises amidst the Environmental sustainability team of the Sri Lanka a Tourism Promotions Bureau. 

Miss Earth  being explained on the " One Million Tree Stories Project" of Sri Lanka Tourism 

Chairman Athukorala explained to miss Earth, how the cumulative tourist arrivals in the first five months of the year has  increased by 14.5% to 714,584 compared to the corresponding period of 2014 but how the ministry of tourism is balancing the growth in the numbers together with responsible environment management so that Sri Lanka continue to protect the treasures of Sri Lanka be it the pristine beaches to the wild life that includes Whales and Elephants not forgetting the rich cultural heritage and the changing dynamics of the informal sector that is launching creative lodging with Eco properties and wild life experiences which many countries cannot benchmark Sri Lanka. 

The 500,000th tree planted by Miss Earth and Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau

Dr. Athukoraka went on to voice that the cumulative earnings from tourism increasing to $ 956.8 million is a positive sign given the global challenges like the euro crashing and the Russian economy reeling to the ground due to economic straggling. The good news is that post January 8th there is a strong positive trend from the west and Scandinavian markets which Sri Lanka tourism is aggressively promoting to surge arrivals and catch the downfall of the Russian and Ukrainian visitors.

Miss Earth with The Environment leadership Team of Sri Lanka Tourism