Unlike in Egypt, for example, tourists in Sri Lanka have never been the target of attacks. But reports of violence have severely depressed the tourist market. One bomb, and it will go down, nose-dive. And then suddenly it can go up again. But we are ready to receive people.
Any tourist can come.
In fact, thousands and thousands of tourists come, spend their holiday and go home. So there is a big gap between the perception in the tourism market and the reality on the ground. The tourism industry is putting considerable faith in the peace process being pursued by the Government. If all goes smoothly, the minister believes incoming tourists should top 900,000 annually by the year 2000. There is already an abundance of rooms, both in main centres like Colombo and Kandy, and at beach resorts, several of which are developing new five-star facilities.