Sri Lanka, May 11 -- Within two weeks of the assurance given by President Maithripala Sirisena to the business leaders that the government would provide adequate assistance to revive the tourism industry from the blow received from the Easter Sunday terror attacks, a wide-ranging relief package was announced. The Cabinet of Ministers approved a one-year moratorium on capital and interest repayment for travel and tourism sector and offered many concessions including banking sector exposure to leisure sector estimated at Rs. 280 billion, two-year working capital loans based on turnover at 3.4% interest rate under Enterprise Sri Lanka programme with govt. subsidizing 75% of the cost and Value Added Tax (VAT) reduced to 5% from 15%.

The tour...