From one crisis to another

https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cdmmjkw6krwt/sri-lanka-easter-bombings

On Easter Sunday 2019, several explosions occurred in Sri Lankan churches and hotels, killing more than 200 people and injuring hundreds more. Several of the explosions happened inside churches in three cities during Easter services.

The coordinated attacks are believed to be aimed mostly at Sri Lanka's minority Christian community, which makes up less than 10% of the country's total population.

A local militant group National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) was responsible for the eight bombs that rocked the country, they were clearly acts of terror.  Even though an intelligence brief was issued ten days before the incident warning of a probable attack, the relevant authorities were unable to take adequate precautions to prevent it.

The bombs struck a serious hit to the island nation's tourism industry, which was one of the country's major economic generators. Sri Lanka offered several discount deals, waived payments on tourist visas for 48 countries, and simplified the visa process for travelers from specific countries in an attempt to attract them back.

Sri Lanka was only beginning to rebuild from the Easter Sunday attacks when the global pandemic broke out. Sri Lanka closed its borders to international travelers on March 19, 2020, and imposed a police curfew to control the spread of Covid-19, which lasted for many months. During this time a noteworthy initiative was driven to host the stranded tourists in the country, which showed the world the true Srilankan hospitality.