Jan 06, Colombo: The tourist arrival in the country has dropped by 10% last year, Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry said.

Speaking at a special press briefing held in Colombo this morning the Secretary to the Ministry K A D George Michael confirmed that the security situation in the country has directly affected the tourist arrivals.

According to the statistics only 389,550 tourists have arrived in the country during January through November of 2008 compared to 432,892 arrivals in the same period of 2007.

Especially the tourist arrivals from Britain, France, Germany, and Italy have dropped last year, the Ministry said.

Tourism is the fourth largest foreign exchange earner to Sri Lanka.