Sri Lankan tourism suffered a great setback due to the Easter Sunday bombings which led lots of people to cancel their tickets to Sri Lanka. Being the third economic industry in Sri Lanka, Tourism has always been in the top list of priorities for the country. Sri Lanka received an all-time low of international tourism in the months of June and July which led to the introduction of a new policy of free 30-days visa-on-arrival for around 50 countries starting from August 1.
SourcePreviously, only 39 countries were being provided visa-on-arrival and India and China were not on that list. A renewal of the list mentions these two along with other more countries. This policy will remain for the next six months. Pasan Ratnayake, Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, mentioned, “travellers wanting to visit Sri Lanka could obtain the visa approval by submitting all the required information electronically by accessing the Sri Lankan embassy websites in their respective countries or by visiting the Immigration website.” Others can approach the existing visa counter at Bandaranaike International Airport in case of not securing a visa before arriving into the country.
SourceOn last Wednesday when this policy was publically declared, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe promised that the country is tourism-safe and that all suspects have been intercepted. He added, “even those who had longstanding association with them, although they have not involved in the attack, are also being questioned and some have been detained and some have been released.”
Now that all this has been cleared and Indians are provided free visa-on-arrival, what is the one destination in Sri Lanka that you’ve been wanting to visit? Let us know in comments below!
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