Sri Lanka intends to attract between 20,000 and 30,000 tourists in the next three months as a "fully vaccinated tourist destination" and the country has plans to attract around 500,000 tourists next year, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said in Colombo today (28).

Tourism industry, Sri Lanka's second highest foreign exchange earner, is one of the worst-hit sectors of the economy due to the pandemic.

However, Sri Lankan authorities are currently working at various levels to revive the industry as Sri Lanka has made sigginifant progress in vaccinating the population over the past several months.

"About 20 airlines are currently operating direct flights to Sri Lanka and several other airlines, including Russian, French, Italian and Israeli airlines, are set to launch direct flights with Sri Lanka in the near future," he said.

However, there is still no clarity over the health guidelines that will be followed when facilitating tourists in the island.

Ranatunga expressed these views at a discussion held at the Ministry of Tourism in Kollupitiya today (28) to raise awareness on the future plans of the tourism industry in the country.