COLOMBO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's tourism industry may face only a 10 percent fall in tourist arrivals this year from the expected 30 percent following the Easter Sunday terror attacks on April 21, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Johanne Jayaratne said here Thursday.
Photo: VCG
Jayaratne told journalists that Sri Lanka was expecting 2.1 million tourists this year as arrivals had picked up once again following the setback suffered from the attacks, and the government was expecting the industry to completely recover by October.
He said several countries had relaxed their travel advisories which had been issued after the April 21 attacks and this helped the tourism sector revive faster.
"Russia has still not lifted the travel advisory," Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga said.
"I hope they will also relax it now as we have lifted the emergency law as well," Amaratunga added.
Sri Lanka welcomed 2.33 million tourists in 2018, bringing a revenue of 4.4 billion U.S. dollars.
This year, Sri Lanka is targetting 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in tourism revenue.
Sri Lanka's tourism industry has emerged as one of the leading sectors with China, India and Britain being the among the top three.
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