Almost five months after the terrorist attacks that killed 259 people in the country, an announcement was made yesterday by the Tourism Crisis Management Office in Macau saying it has lowered its Travel Alert for Sri Lanka from Level 2 to Level 1.
On 21 April 2019, during Easter Sunday, a series of coordinated bombings at three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka had killed 259 people, including 45 foreign nationals, thus raising the travel alert level.
The GGCT warned that, despite the current lower alert, Macau residents who intend to travel to or already are in Sri Lanka should still be cautious and take special precautions to protect their personal safety in the country.
The travel alert has lately been at the centre of a debate involving the Macau Football Association (MFA), which was referred as one of the main reasons for not allowing the local football national team to travel to Sri Lanka and play the second leg of a Qatar 2022 World Cup Asian Regional Qualification round, despite safety assurances by FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Football Federation of Sri Lanka.
The decision eventually led the AFC to disqualify and fine the MFA.
