Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 7-pct in Feb; Chinese visitors plunge

ECONOMYNEXT - Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka grew 7 percent from a year earlier to 252,033 in February 2019, the state tourism development authority said, amid a steep fall in Chinese visitors.

The top generating markets were India with 13 percent of arrivals, the United Kingdom 12 percent, China 11 percent, and France and Germany 7 percent each.

Indian visitors had fallen 1.9 percent to 21,286, and the UK had grown 8.8 percent to 29,750.

Arrivals from China had plunged 22 percent to 28,039 amid traditional Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

Visitors from the US rose 61 percent to 9,678, Australian arrivals rose 61 percent to 6,469.

In 2018, Sri Lanka welcomed 2,333,796 tourists.

In the first two months of the year, Sri Lanka recorded 496,272 visitor arrivals, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier.

Sri Lanka vehicle registrations fall in February as demand slows

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lankan vehicle registrations fell sharply in February 2019 to 2,347 units from 3,147 units the previous month and significantly down from 5,024 units 12 months ago, brokerage JB Securities said in a report.

“Vehicle registrations slowed in February due to slowing demand and a smaller number of calendar days in the month,” the report said.

Brand new motor car registrations were marginally up to 434 units in February, from 429 units the previous month, but significantly down from 773 units 12 months ago.

Small engine cars accounted for 76.3 percent of the registrations.

“Indian OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are yet to produce cars with Euro 4 compliant engines and dual airbags,” the report said.

“Thus they are excluded from the market. Financing share was 50.2 percent, in line with the normal monthly average.”

The number of pre-owned motor car registrations fell to 1,913 units in February, from 2,718 units the previous month but significantly down from 4,251 units 12 months ago, JB Securities said.

Small engine cars below 1,000cc accounted for 90.2 percent of volumes.

“Toyota was the segment leader accounting for 890 units (Vitz 740) followed by Suzuki with 799 units (Wagon R 533)” the report said. Financing share was 56.7 percent in line with the normal monthly average.