Sri Lanka, March 6 -- Tourism authorities in coordination with the Health Ministry will prepare a new programme to address the coronavirus outbreak impact on tourism industry.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and members of the Hotel Association held at Temple Trees on Wednesday.

The discussion focused on a number of issues affecting the tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka declined sharply by 17.7 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) in February to 207,507 mainly driven by a record decline in arrivals from China due to COVID -19 outbreak while the arrivals from other key markets also dropped fuelled by virus fears with India, Australia and Eastern Europe being exceptions.

Tour...