Sri Lanka has decided to waive visa fees for citizens of 35 countries including China, India and Russia to boost the tourism sector. Cabinet spokesman and Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardene confirmed to Reuters that the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Gunawardane told Reuters that the list of 35 countries includes India, China, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Australia, Denmark, Poland, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Indonesia. , Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and France.

As per the Cabinet decision, the fee-free tourist visa will be valid for 30 days. This project will be launched for a period of 6 months.

“We want to transform Sri Lanka into a visa-free country,” Gunawardene told Reuters. Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have followed this policy before us and as a result their tourism sector has boomed and that too in a short period of time. We need to strengthen this sector now.”

Sri Lanka has a total area of ​​65,610 square kilometers with a population of 2.2 million people. Sri Lanka is actually a large unbroken island on the Indian Ocean. Millions of tourists from different countries come to Sri Lanka every year for the attractive beaches, various old Buddhist temples, intensive forest-tea plantations and fragrant teas.
On April 21, 2019, there were bomb blasts in three cities including the capital Colombo. Local Islamist militants claimed responsibility for the attack. 189 local and foreign citizens were killed in Sri Lanka in that terrible explosion and more than 400 were injured.

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector collapsed after the attack. Then, border closures during the coronavirus pandemic and post-pandemic economic instability pushed the country’s tourism sector almost to the brink.

However, this sector, which is known as the most important pillar of the country’s economy, is turning around again recently. According to official data, a total of 2 million 30 thousand foreign tourists have set foot in the country from the middle of August 2023 to the middle of August this year.