The Indian Ocean republic welcomed 549,308 visitors in 2005 compared to a target of 600,000, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board said.

Indian nationals were the single largest group of visitors in what until recent years was a European-dominated market.

However, even the numbers from India fell as Sri Lanka laboured in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami which killed an estimated 31,000 people and left a 1.6 billion dollar clean up bill.

There were 10,636 Indian visitors who made use of airline discounts to visit the island in 2005 but that was 5.6 percent below the 2004 figure.

On average, Indians stay under five days in city hotels, mainly for business and shopping and spend about 100 dollars a day -- higher than the average tourist who spends just 84 dollars, the Tourist Board said.

Many hotels around Sri Lanka's sandy beaches, lush tea-growing mountains and historic sites dating back 2,500 years, remain half empty.

Arrivals from the traditional European markets, which provide the bulk of package tourists, fell 30.1 percent to 20,840 underscoring the problems for hotels catering to tour groups.

Visitors from Britain led the downturn, falling 31.6 percent to 8,358, while just 4,457 Germans visited last year -- a 16.7 percent drop.

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