COLOMBO, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka grew by 18.7 percent in June, compared to the same period last year, a minister here said on Thursday.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga told Xinhua that 20,424 Chinese tourists had arrived in the country last month compared to the 17,205 Chinese tourists who had arrived in June 2017 and so far this year 136,294 Chinese tourists had toured Sri Lanka.

The minister further said the capacity of Sri Lanka's international airport, the Bandaranaike International Airport airport, had to be improved further to accommodate the influx of inbound tourists as Sri Lanka's tourism industry had emerged as one of the leading sectors in the island country.

"There is a lack of immigration officials at the airport. We need to address it. There is congestion at the airport because of this. We received a lot of complaints from tourists in this regard," he said.