COLOMBO, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Over 118,000 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last month with China being the second largest market for Sri Lanka tourism, official statistics from Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed here Thursday.

India was the leading market with over 33,000 arrivals followed by China with over 11,000 arrivals and Britain with over 8,000 arrivals.

Over all, to date, 118,743 tourists arrived in October while almost 1.5 million tourists have arrived in the island country in the first 10 months.

Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga said here recently that the government was expecting at least 1.9 million to 2 million tourists by the end of this year following the set back suffered after the Easter Sunday suicide attacks.

Tourism has emerged as one of the leading foreign exchange earners since the country ended its civil war in 2009.