COLOMBO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's delayed three-year global tourism promotional campaign will start soon with the appointment of a new chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said here Thursday.

Popular figure Kishu Gomes was handed the letter of appointment by Amaratunga at a ceremony in Colombo with Gomes vowing to kick off the tourism campaign in the main global markets.

The new mega campaign will target India, China, Europe and Australia.

Gomes said tourism had emerged as Sri Lanka's third largest foreign exchange earner, and much more could be done to increase the industry's contribution to the country.

He said the sector had tremendous growth potential, and could create more jobs and income for the people.

Minister Amaratunga said last month that Sri Lanka hoped to attract at least 3 million tourists this year and a revenue of 5 billion U.S. dollars particularly after the island country was named as the number one destination to travel in 2019 by the Lonely Planet magazine.

Sri Lanka received 2.3 million tourists last year, with India, China and Britain being the leading markets.