Sri Lankan government to introduce on-arrival visa for multiple countries from May 1
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga has reportedly said that work is underway to implement on-arrival visas free-of-charge for multiple countries from 1 May. The latest move by the Sri Lankan government is expected to boost tourist arrivals during lean months.
“We will start granting a six-month free visa period from 1 May for selected countries during our lean period to boost tourist arrivals,” the Minister has told the Daily FT.
The Cabinet of Ministers in February had approved the proposal presented by Amaratunga to grant a six-month free visa period from 1 April for selected countries.
According to that, visa-free entry to Sri Lanka will be granted to tourists from Thailand, the UK, Australia, South Korea, Canada, US, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and countries of the EU.
In addition to those countries, the Minister has said he was hopeful of extending the facility to all SAARC countries as well as to China, which includes top source markets for Sri Lanka.
The on-arrival visas would be initially implemented for a trial period of six months and depending on the success rate, the government is expected to further extend the facility with more added features to make Sri Lanka an attractive destination for tourists.
“As the next step of this program, we are planning on setting up a permanent system at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to issue visa on-arrival, like in many other countries. We believe this would be a major breakthrough in attracting more visitors from this year,” Amaratunga has added.
According to the Minister, the technicalities and systems were already being discussed and implemented by the Immigration and Emigration Department.
OSL take:
The move to introduce on arrival visas for multiple countries would have a definite positive impact on Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. The country’s tourism sector has been on a continuous growth path during the past few years and the latest promotional campaigns along with policy decisions like on arrival visas would give a further impetus to Sri Lanka tourism. Sri Lanka is now being sought as a destination by foreign travelers for varying reasons including as a MICE destination. The growth in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has also expanded business/investment opportunities in the sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/15032019/Z_2 |