Belgian tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have increased by 108.2 % in the first 11 months of 2010 over that of the previous year, compared to a Western European average of 50.5% and an overall increase of 45.7% in the corresponding period.
The increase in tourist arrivals from Belgium in the month of November 2010 alone, over that of November 2009, was a staggering 290.5%. This month Belgium also relaxed its travel advisory deleting a reference in its September 2010 travel advisory which stated "given the security situation, all travelling to north and east of Sri Lanka not recommended".
The impact of these developments were amply demonstrated from the attention Sri Lanka received at the 2010 Brussels Travel Expo (BT Expo) which was held in Brussels this month. BT Expo, the largest business to business tourism promotional event in the Belgium calendar was attended by more than 250 exhibitors.