As per provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority yesterday, it reflects a sharp growth of 27% to 27,506 tourists from first week January.

It is evident that the daily arrival average has improved by over 16% to 3,827 as against 3,308 in January, boosted by Russian travellers.

Russia leads as the top source market, reflecting 25% or 6,619 of total arrivals during the first week followed by India with 13% or 3,462, the United Kingdom with 9% or 2,269, Germany with 7% or 1,988, and France with 6% or 1,590.

In addition, tourists were also welcomed from Australia, Canada, Israel, US and Switzerland.