COLOMBO, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) - Statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board on Wednesday show that the number of Chinese travelers to the island nation has almost doubled from last year.

In August, the number of Chinese tourists stands at 1071, a 2.4 percent decrease over the previous month when 1097 people came to Sri Lanka, which brings the total number of tourists to 11,183. Last year, 6,678 Chinese people traveled to the country.

Foreign visitors to the country in the first eight months of 2011 have jumped 35.2 percent to 537,787, compared to the same period a year ago.

Sri Lanka has forecast a 20 percent growth in arrivals this year to more than 780,000 people. The government earlier in the week launched a comprehensive five year strategy to attract 2.5 million visitors by 2016.

Source:An