ABSTRACT
In fact, 1999 was an all-time record year for inbound tourism numbers to Sri Lanka, with 436 000 arrivals in that year representing an almost 50 per cent bounce-back from the 1996 slump in which the civil war had involved well-publicised attacks on the capital city of Colombo. Since 1983, there has been a state of civil war between the Tamils and the central government which has resulted in the deaths of 40 000 people. In 1999, the year in which Sri Lanka effectively relaunched itself as a tourist destination, Sri Lankan tourism authorities sought to target a greater share of the Asian travel market and build up the European and, to a lesser extent, the Australian market. After the attack, the Sri Lankan government's silence on preventative measures, and the CTB's apparent inability even to refer to the security issue, aggravated the Sri Lankan tourism crisis.
