Desk Report
Sri Lanka will give free tourist visa to citizens of seven countries including India, China and Russia The country’s cabinet approved the proposal on Tuesday (October 24). The remaining countries are Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia
Citizens of these countries will get this facility till March 31, 2024 under a pilot project
Sri Lanka has set a target of revitalizing the tourism sector and reaching 5 million tourist arrivals by 2026 Provision of free tourist visas is part of this programme
First the corona pandemic, then last year’s extreme financial crisis led to protests and shortages of daily commodities including fuel, the country’s tourist arrivals have declined. However, tourist arrivals have increased this year Around 1 million tourists visited the island nation till September The number is expected to reach 1.5 million by the end of the year
According to Sri Lanka Development Authority data, 2 lakh 310 Indian tourists have visited Sri Lanka so far this year, which is the highest among all countries. Then there are Russian tourists, their number is 132 thousand 300 people
According to the data of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in the first eight months of this year, Sri Lanka has earned 1.3 billion US dollars from the tourism sector At the same time last year, the figure was 83.3 million dollars
