Colombo, Mar 13 (IANS): Sri Lanka earned $169.9 million from tourism in February, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said on Monday.

Fernando told the media that the figure represented an increase from the $169.4 million a year earlier, reports Xinhua news agency.

Over 210,000 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka in the first two months of 2023, and $331.7 million were earned in the cited period, according to the Minister.

The South Asian country recorded 102,545 visitor arrivals in January and 107,639 in February.

The cumulative number of visitor arrivals for the year until March 8 was 234,547, an increase of 9.6 per cent from the same period of last year, he said.

Russia, India and Germany were Sri Lanka's top three source markets of tourists so far in March, according to the Tourism Development Authority data.

Tourism, one of Sri Lanka's leading foreign exchange earners, has suffered a setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic and domestic economic and political crises.

Sri Lanka aims to attract around 1.5 million tourists in 2023 and 3 million in 2024.