Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) said Monday that last year ended with the deadly tsunami was also a year that set new records across the boards for tourism.

Sri Lankan tourism was in full expansion last year with sharp increases in every indicator from tourist arrivals and receipts to jobs and tax revenues generated by visitors, according to the Annual statistical report of Sri Lanka Tourism 2004 just published by the SLTB.

The report shows tourism ranked as the nation's fourth largest industry in terms of foreign exchange earnings in 2004, following garments, private foreign remittances and tea.

Earnings from tourism totaled 42.1 billion rupee (around 421 million US dollars), an increase of 28 percent over 2003. Average tourist spending per day rose by 8.1 percent to 72.20 dollars compared to last year's figure of 66.80 dollar, the report said.

Tourist arrivals, which include business and leisure visitors, climbed by 13 percent to reach 566,202 compared to the previous year's figure of 500,642.

Sri Lanka's top tourism markets in 2004 were United Kingdom with an increase of 15 percent over 2003, India up 15 percent, France up 6 percent, and Australia up 22 percent, Germany maintaining the same.

Catering for the growing number of tourists, thousands of new jobs were created last year in hotels, restaurants, handicraft shops, travel and tour agencies and other recreational facilities.

Direct employment in the tourism sector rose 15 percent to 53, 776 tourism jobs in 2004, and indirect tourism-related employment in fields such as food supply and transport was estimated at 75, 286 jobs, resulting in a total tourism employment figure of 129, 062.

Source: Xinhua