For Indian passport holders planning a trip to Sri Lanka, here's some good news - the Sri Lankan government is in the process of drafting a Cabinet proposal to extend the free-visa scheme till April 30.?
India is one of the biggest contributors to the tourism market in Sri Lanka, with over 18% of all tourist arrivals from the country. Earlier, Indians had to pay almost Rs 2,400 as visa fee on arrival in Sri Lanka.?
PTI
But post the Easter Sunday attacks that took place on April 21, 2019, the country was struggling to recover its the tourism industry.?Sri Lanka granted free visas to travellers from 49 countries, including India, for a period of six months from August 1.
With the period coming to an end this month, the Immigration and Emigration Department lobbied the government to suspend the visa scheme, noting that there will be a loss of revenue.
The tourism industry urged the continuation of the scheme as it has been helpful for recovery, whilst any loss of revenue to the government was insignificant considering the net $4.4 billion it brings in as foreign exchange earning, reports IANS.?
Following the bombings that targeted three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo and killed over 250 people, tourist arrivals slumped by 70.8 per cent to a record low of 37,802 in May 2019.
The visa scheme was originally introduced in the country to increase the off-season tourism during the period from May to October. But after the terrorist attacks in Colombo the scheme was taken forward and it' going to stay till the country's tourism economy gets back on track.?
The? Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority says that 1.6 million tourists arrived from January to November, compared to the 2 million arrivals in the same period in 2018.??