COLOMBO, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Earnings from Sri Lanka's booming tourism industry jumped 26.2 percent in March and April to 192.2 million U.S. dollars, the Central Bank said on Monday.

Releasing its external performance report the Central Bank noted earnings had increasing an impressive 49.8 percent from the same period last year.

Tourist arrivals grew at a rate of 39.5 per cent, year-on-year to 112,631 in April 2014.

The top five sources of tourist arrivals in March 2014 were India, UK, Germany, China and Russia, accounting for about 44 percent of total tourist arrivals during the month.

Since the end of a three decade war in 2009 Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals have boomed reaching over 1.2 million last year and attracting earnings of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Central Bank.

The tropical island is aiming to attract 2.5 million arrivals by 2016, buoyed by fast increasing numbers from China.

Only 27,627 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka in 2012, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) but the numbers nearly doubled to 54,288 last year. China is now the third largest source of tourists for Sri Lanka.

In January 2014 Chinese arrivals grew a staggering 119.2 percent increase with the arrival of 21,098 travelers in the first two months of the year.

March proved to be much the same with China recording nearly three times the arrivals rate of last year jumping from 3,328 in 2013 to 10,779 this year.

China has now become the third highest source of tourists for Sri Lanka behind India and UK as well as being the fastest growing market.

This is largely due to massive advertising campaigns launched in China by the Sri Lankan government and greater engagement with Chinese media.

In total 421,501 arrivals have been recorded so far, which is a 24.8 percent increase from the previous first quarter.