It was in October last year that the Sri Lankan Cabinet approved free visas for travellers as part of a pilot project.
Sri Lanka, in a bid to boost tourism, has given visa-free access to travellers from as many as 35 countries, including Indians from October this year. As per a report in news agency PTI, the visitors will now be able to enjoy visa-free entry to the island country. The country aims to boost tourism and help revive its crisis-hit economy.
Reportedly, the Sri Lankan government has approved visa-free entry to tourists from 35 countries, including India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The policy would start from October 1. The local newspaper Daily Mirror quoted Harin Fernando, Adviser to the Ministry of Tourism, as saying that the policy is for six months, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, Cabinet spokesman and Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardana, reportedly said, "The aim of the government is to transform Sri Lanka into a free visa country, much like Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam to tap into the benefits of a rapidly growing tourism industry,"
The countries which have been granted visa-free access include, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the UAE, the UK, and the US.
It was in October last year that the Sri Lankan Cabinet approved free visas for travellers from several countries, including India, China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. It was done as part of the pilot project in place till March 2024. In fact, in March last year, Sri Lankan foreign minister Ali Sabry was quoted as saying that his country's relationship with India was ‘one of the most important in our foreign policy’. It cannot go unnoticed that India has always been a massive contributor to Sri Lanka's inbound tourism.
As reported by PTI, in September, India saw the highest number of tourists to Sri Lanka and the number was more than 30,000 arrivals, comprising 26 per cent of the total travellers. On the other hand, Chinese tourists followed suit to become the second-largest group of visits to Sri Lanka with over 8,000 arrivals.
Meanwhile, earlier, there was a controversy regarding the increased fees for on-arrival visas in Sri Lanka. It was reportedly handled by a foreign company. Nonetheless, tourists from India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia were welcomed with tourist visas free of charge to Sri Lanka.
To say the least, Sri Lanka, with a population of 22 million people, is famous for its beaches, temples and tea. The number of tourists to the country dipped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it reduced further when the country faced a severe financial crisis in 2022. Now the nation is seeing the benefits of a turnaround, and expecting to close the year at 2.3 million arrivals.
