Earnings from tourism are estimated to have increased by 16.7 per cent to US dollars 263.5 million in February 2015, compared to US dollars 225.9 million in February 2014. The top five sources of tourist arrivals in February 2015 were India, China, UK, Germany and France accounting for about 94.2 per cent of tourist arrivals during the month.

Meanwhile, tourist arrivals increased by 18.0 per cent, year-on-year, to 157,051 in March 2015, raising the total number of tourists during the first quarter of the year to 478,838 which grew by 13.6 per cent, year-on-year. Moreover, Earnings from tourism increased by 18.0 per cent to US dollars 250.0 million in March 2015, from US dollars 211.8 million in March 2014. On a cumulative basis, earnings from tourism during the first quarter of 2015 recorded a growth of 13.6 per cent, to US dollars 762.3 million, compared to the corresponding period of 2014, the External Sector Performance for February issued by the Central Bank further revealed.