Sri Lanka to introduce five-year multiple entry tourist visa.
The government of Sri Lanka has reportedly decided to introduce a five-year, multiple-entry tourist visa to the country as yet another measure to revitalise the tourism industry. Accordingly, this visa programme is to initially be introduced for visitors from 35 countries.
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism and Lands, Harin Fernando had last week posted on Twitter that this new visa comes in addition to the one-year multiple- and single-entry tourist visas, which includes a six-month stay period, an extension of the initial 30-day stay period.
According to local media reports, the Sri Lankan government’s decision comes at a time when the UK Government had updated its travel advisory on Sri Lanka, declaring that “the UK no longer advises against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka.” Several other countries have also revised their travel advisories on visiting Sri Lanka stating their respective citizens could undertake travel to Sri Lanka.
OSL take:
The government of Sri Lanka is focused on wooing foreign investments to the country and the proposed long term visa programme is aimed at further promoting the country as a business/investment destination in the South Asian region. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country have also helped boost the country’s image as an emerging business destination in the region. Sri Lanka’s economic resilience despite facing challenges posed by a global pandemic and a resultant economic crisis also serve as confidence boosters for foreign businesses/investors. The proposed long term visas would also help boost Sri Lanka’s tourism industry that is currently on the recovery path following the pandemic and economic crisis. The country’s tourism industry continues to record a steady growth along with an increase in the revenue generated by the industry in the past few months.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/23092022/X_2 |