Sri Lankan government ends four-month state of emergency, a further boost to tourism
The government of Sri Lanka ended last week a four-month state of emergency declared after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings by Islamist extremists in April.
Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has been extending the emergency regulations on the 22nd of each month since the April 21 attacks on three hotels and three churches.
However, President Sirisena did not extended it for another term and thereby allowed the emergency to end last Thursday (22).
“The president did not issue a fresh proclamation extending the emergency by a further period,” an official source has said.
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister John Amaratunga last week said he had asked the President to relax the draconian law to signal to foreign holidaymakers that the situation in the country was back to normal.
OSL take:
While many foreign countries have relaxed the travel advisories issued on Sri Lanka following the Easter Sunday attacks in April, they were not totally removed. However, the lifting of the state of emergency in Sri Lanka would now result in the total removal of travel advisories on the island. While tourist arrivals have been recording a steady increase the lifting of the state of emergency would further boost tourist arrivals to the country creating more business opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/28082019/Z_5 |