The past few years have not been easy on Sri Lanka, but the Southeast Asian island — and its people — are on the upswing.

Tourists were busy spooning up ice-cream on the verandah of Tariq Nassim's home at the picturesque Galle Fort in Sri Lanka, the centre of a boom in tourism during the island nation's nascent recovery from its worst economic crisis in decades.

More than three dozen candidates are vying to lead Sri Lanka out of an economic collapse that led to the 2022 ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.