Over 88,000 tourists from the UK are expected to visit Sri Lanka this year, tourism industry sources told the Daily News. Compared to last year’s figure of 67,000 tourists from UK this is a significant increase and its success is attributed to the ongoing peace process and the effective marketing efforts of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board, an official from the Board said.The figure is expected to increase the following year after the Destination Sri Lanka promotion event which is to be held in Colombo from May 17 to 22 this year,’ the official said. Destination Sri Lanka is expected to open new markets for Sri Lanka’s tourist industry. The organisers of the event, the Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau is planning to invite 250 buyers for the event and about 150 of them are representing markets hitherto not open to Sri Lanka. “We are looking at new markets in South Asia, South East Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” a spokesperson of the Bureau said. She said the event would also focus on high profile tourists to create a new business environment in the local tourist industry which caters mostly to the normal leisure traveller. (C.K)