Visitors from Western Europe rose 14 percent to 19,731 with arrivals from UK up 5.3 percent to 6,400, Germany up 6.4 percent to 3,248, France up 12.3 percent to 2,545, Norway up 16.2 percent to 1,668 and
The Netherlands up 19.6 percent to 1,204.
In six months visitors from the region was up the 13.8 percent to 196,355.
East European visitors were down 5.9 percent with Russian visitors up 38.1 percent to 1,077 in June but Ukraine down 42.7 percent to 562.
Middle Eastern arrivals which were flagging up to May picked up 15.7 percent to 6,842 with arrivals in the half year at 24,497 slightly ahead of 24,104 reported in the first half of 2012.
East Asian arrivals grew by a fast 33.1 percent to 11,679 in June with China surging 125 percent to 2,765, Japan up 21.1 percent to 1,709, Singapore up 7.0 percent to 1,374 and Philippines also up a sharp 91 percent to 1,587.
Chinese arrivals were up 72 percent to 16,582 on track with the tourist promotion's annual target of 30,000 from the country.
South Asian visitors were up 9.6 percent to 21,915 with Maldives up 29.4 percent to 5,454, Pakistan up 14 percent to 1,625 and India up 0.7 percent to 13,856.
In the first half Indian arrivals were down 1.7 percent to 83,981. Indian arrivals have been weak since Sri Lanka re-imposed visas for Indians and the Indian economy has also been weak with the currency depreciating sharply.
Visitors from Australia were up 3.4 percent to 3,718.
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-tourist-arrivals-up-12.8-pct-in-june/1030889214