To enhance the tourism sector, the Department of Immigration and Emigration has announced in Colombo that Indian tourists, the largest inbound group, will receive free tourist visas with immediate effect.
The facility is the result of an October Cabinet decision to offer free tourist visas to visitors from India, China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand as part of efforts to restore the debt-ridden island nation’s tourism economy, which has collapsed since the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
According to the release, the pilot project to provide free visas for the first 30 days will run until March 31, 2024.
The visitors would be granted dual entry status upon arrival, and their stay in the island nation would be limited to 30 days.
India has always been Sri Lanka’s most important inbound tourism market.
In October 2023, India led the way with over 28,000 arrivals or 26 percent with Russian tourists trailing behind with over 10,000 arrivals as the second largest group.
With almost 8,000 visitors, British tourists came in third position.
Tourist visits to the island nation have dropped since the 2019 Easter Sunday bombs, which killed 270 people, including 11 Indians, and injured over 500 more.
Sri Lanka has been experiencing unparalleled economic turbulence, resulting in a severe lack of vital products such as food, medicine, cooking gas and other fuel, toilet paper, and even matches.
The International Monetary Fund agreed to a USD 3 billion rescue for Sri Lanka’s faltering economy in March.
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