Colombo, Feb 6 (IANS): The Sri Lankan government will soon commence the construction of a new terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport here in order to accommodate a large number of arrivals, it was reported on Thursday.

Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Ltd (AASL), G.A. Chandrasiri told the Daily News that currently the passenger capacity of the airport was 6.9 million, but at the end of 2019, there were 10 million passenger arrivals, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, with the completion of the new "Terminal 2" in three years, the airport was planning to accommodate 20 million passengers per year.

Since the end of Sri Lanka's civil war in May 2009, the country's tourism sector has seen significant growth with arrivals averaging at 2 million tourists per year.

Last year, Sri Lanka received a little over 1.9 million tourists with India, China and Britain being the largest markets.

This year, the new government has aimed to attract 3 million tourists, increasing it to 10 million within five years.