The economies of India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were in a strong position to overcome the tragedy, they added, as the death toll from the deadly waves soared well past 100,000.

"While the tourist sector is a similar size of both Indonesia's and Sri Lanka's economies, the impact is likely to vary considerably," economists at the emerging markets bank Standard Chartered wrote in a research note.

"In Indonesia the main tourist areas of Bali and Lombok are not impacted. In contrast, the extent of the devastation on Sri Lanka suggests its tourist sector and economy will be hit harder.

"Given the size of the economies and the scale of the disaster, it is the Maldives and Sri Lanka that are worst affected in economic terms, although all countries will be impacted."

Travel and tourism represents both directly and indirectly 74.1 percent of the gross domestic product of the Maldives and 10.8 percent of Sri Lanka, according to figures from the World Travel and Tourism Council.

This compares with figures of 14.7 percent for Malaysia, 12.2 percent for Thailand, 10.3 percent for Indonesia and 4.9 percent for India.