Sri Lanka aims to make a record $3.5 billion from tourism this year on the back of its improved rights record under a new government after years of ethnic war, its tourism minister said on Monday.

Tourism on the Indian Ocean island suffered heavily during a decades-long civil war that ended in 2009, but has been recovering in recent years.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said the number of foreign holiday makers arriving on the island had jumped by 15 percent to 1.5 million in the first nine months of 2016, and he expected tourism revenues to hit $3.5 billion for the year as a whole, a report by AFP said.

He attributed the trend to an improvement in the island's international reputation for rights following the ousting last year of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was widely criticised over a series of alleged abuses.

"The improvement of our human rights record is something that helped achieve this growth," Amaratunga told reporters in Colombo.