Colombo (TAN): Sri Lanka’s free visa programme for visitors from nearly 50 countries begins on Thursday, the country’s tourism minister John Amaratunga said Wednesday.
As part of the initiative, the country will give one-one free visa on arrival to citizens of the designated countries, including India and China. It is possible to apply and get the visa both online and on arrival.
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The minister said the measure will be in effect for six months and the government hoped this would substantially increase tourist footfall. He said, “If it is not beneficial we will suspend this programme.”
The measure will see the government lose as much as LKR 4.3 billion (USD 24.4 million) in visa fees, reports said.
This is a desperate measure from the Sri Lankan government to attract visitors since the tourism industry saw a slump in tourist footfall in the wake of the serial blasts in and around Colombo in April that killed over 250 people and injured double the number.
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Tourist arrivals declined by 45% to 117,000 in July as compared to the same period in 2018. The figure, however, is better than June’s 63,072, reveals government data.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the situation had returned to normal in Sri Lanka and assured tourists it was safe for tourism.
