Sri Lanka's Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundera has directed the country's tourist police personnel to learn international languages including Hindi, Chinese and French as the tourism sector is set to be the biggest forex earner for the island nation.

With 2,06,337 tourists visiting Sri Lanka during the first six months of 2018, India continues to be the leading contributor to the country's inbound tourism market. At 1,36,294, the next highest number of arrivals were from China, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said. "We have to understand the important role played by the tourism sector in the country's economy," Jayasundera said.