Mar 13, Colombo: Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 13.4 percent in Jnauary this year compared to the same period last year, the data released today by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.

The month recorded 97,411 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 85,874 arrived in January 2012.

Arrivals from North America rose 4.8 percent to 5,428 in January and the arrivals form US rose 9.1 percent during the month this year.

Tourist arrivals from Western Europe reached 41,484 during the month, a 13.7 percent increase from the 36,497 tourists arrived in the same month last year.

Arrivals from Eastern Europe increased 18.2 percent with the arrival of 8,083 tourists in January 2013 while tourist arrivals from Middle East increased marginally by 3.2 percent to 10,039.

Arrivals from South Asia this year increased by 15.5 percent with 22,191 tourists visiting the island. Of those arrived from South Asia, 15,631 were from India.

Sri Lanka fulfilled its target of one million tourist arrivals last year and earned over US$ 1 billion from tourism.

Since the end of the war against the Tamil Tiger terrorists in May 2009, the country has seen steady rise in tourist arrivals every year for the past four years.