Sri Lanka reopens to tourists after 9 months

Sri Lanka has reopened to tourists after more than nine months.

Sri Lanka has reopened to tourists after more than nine months.

The Indian Ocean island nation closed to tourists in March, amid the first wave of the coronavirus. Authorities also closed the two main international airports.

The government says a pilot program to attract tourists is now being implemented. The first tourists arrived on a special flight from Ukraine on Monday. The 186 tourists are expected to stay in Sri Lanka for 10 days.

Under the pilot program, which will run to Jan. 24, 2,580 tourists are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka, mostly from CIS countries.

Covid -19 has dealt a severe blow to tourism, a vital economic sector for Sri Lanka, accounting for about 5% of its GDP and employing 250,000 people directly and up to 2 million indirectly.

Previously, the government announced that the country would reopen to tourists on August 1, but the date was pushed back after new clusters of Covid-19 patients emerged.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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