Sri Lanka has seen rapid growth of overseas tourists, expecting total foreign visitors to reach 2.2 million in 2016, up 26 percent from 2015.

Sri Lanka's Tourism Authority said Monday that country has welcomed 1.7 million visitors as of October, a 14.6 percent increase compared with the same time period last year.

India, China and the United Kingdom are the top three source markets for Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government recently launched several initiatives to attract international arrivals, including increasing direct flights from other countries in the Asia Pacific region and discussions on an open sky policy to further drive air traffic to the country. There is also a new terminal in development at Colombo's Bandaranike International Airport, which could increase the airport's passenger capacity.

As a result, the country's hotel demand has increased 3.5 percent based on October 2016 year-to-date data. Supply has also increased 4.2 percent with around 900 new rooms added to the market in the first ten months of the year.

(Xinhua)