Germany and Sweden, whose travel advisories asked their citizens to undertake only essential travel to Sri Lanka have now downgraded them to 'be cautious', according to reliable sources at the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, which has received a confirmation of same from the respective embassies in Colombo. This is particularly significant as Germany has long been among the top 5 tourism source markets for Sri Lanka, including in 2018. Interestingly, this update comes hot on the heels of the completion of a visit by a delegation from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to Sri Lanka from 22 to 28 May. The delegation had successful in-depth political discussions with several Sri-Lankan partners in Colombo in order to deepen the existing bilateral cooperation and undertook field trips to the North and Galle to review German supported projects, according to the Germany Embassy in Colombo. Therefore India, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden relaxed its travel advisories to Sri Lanka today, following China's relaxation a few days ago, and now caution its citizens to be careful and vigilant instead of advising them to undertake only essential travel to the island. Earlier in the day, the Indian Government noted that the security situation in Sri Lanka is gradually returning to normal with the lifting of curfew and restrictions on social media and the opening of schools and advised Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka to be careful and vigilant. In late April India issued an advisory asking its nationals to avoid "non-essential travel" to Sri Lanka. India is the top tourism generating market for Sri Lanka and over 424,000 Indian nationals visited Sri Lanka in 2018. Switzerland, which had also advised its citizens against undertaking non essential travel to Sri Lanka, now only stresses that travelers should maintain a high level of personal security during their stay in the country. However, the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs cautioned that political and social tensions run high and could trigger violent clashes at any time and throughout the country. It is to be expected that the political situation will remain tense until the national elections in December 2019, it said. The positive news was led by China, Sri Lanka's second biggest tourism source market, over the weekend, as it toned down its advisory to ‘be cautious’ while travelling to Sri Lanka from ‘Do not travel to Sri Lanka’. Furthermore, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan has reiterated that China attaches importance to Sri Lanka’s concerns on its tourism industry hit by the 21 April attacks and will promptly promote Chinese tourist arrivals to the island and tourism exchanges, during a meeting with Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister John Amaratunga last week at the Chinese Embassy in Colombo. These revisions of travel advisories confirm the exclusive report which appeared in The Sunday Morning Business on 26th May quoting Amaratunga which stated that several countries would relax its advisories before the end of the month. In spite of this spurt of good news, many travel severe travel advisories remain unchanged, although they may be relaxed soon following these 5 countries. As updated on 13 May, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises its national against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka. According to the reports from Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), tourist arrivals from the UK stood at over 254,000 in 2018. The US Embassy in Sri Lanka updated its travel warning on 16 May, following the communal unrest the country went through three weeks after the attacks, with a “Level 3” advisory. The advisory read: “Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, airports, hospitals, and other public areas.” Sri Lanka welcomed over 75,000 US tourists in 2018. The Canadian Embassy in Sri Lanka too updated its travel advisory following the unrest in parts of the North Western Province of the country, advising its nationals to “avoid non-essential travel”. Canada contributed with over 52,000 tourists in 2018. The Australian Embassy in Sri Lanka has updated the advisory on 1 May saying that the terrorists are likely to carry further attacks in places visited by foreigners. Australians are advised to minimise movement until the situation stabilises. Over 110,000 Australian tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2018.