The government of Sri Lanka has decided to reduce the fees paid by airlines in order to help the country's tourism sector recover from the effects of the Easter attacks, which killed about 250 people last April.
According to the Traveller website, the government will reduce the price of aviation fuel and the departure tax for 6 months to encourage airlines to lower the cost of flights to Sri Lanka, alongside offering discounts at hotels and restaurants.
Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said the government's decision would attract more tourists to the island, which is famous for its renowned beaches, adding that last year tourism was Sri Lanka's third-largest source of foreign currency, accounting for 4.9% of GDP, equivalent to $4.4 billion, as 2.3 million tourists visited the country, 98% of whom came on international airlines.
It is worth noting that Sri Lanka was hit by terrorist attacks last April, which caused inbound tourism to fall by 71% in May and 57% in June compared with the same time last year, according to official tourism statistics. Although the government had expected to earn $5 billion from tourism this year, revenues are expected to drop to $3.7 billion.
Seven suicide bombers had blown themselves up at two Catholic churches, one Protestant church and three luxury hotels on April 21, and ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. The explosions killed more than 250 people, including 45 foreigners, most of them from China, India, the United States and the United Kingdom.
