Sri Lanka has decided to provide free visa to tourists from 35 countries to promote the tourism industry after overcoming the economic crisis. Cabinet spokesperson and Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardene confirmed to Reuters that the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Among the list of 35 countries, Gunawardene told Reuters, they are 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.
“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. It is important for us to strengthen this sector now.
Among the 35 countries are India and Nepal from South Asia, but the citizens of neighboring Bangladesh will not get this benefit.
It is known that the validity of this free tourist visa will be 30 days. This project will be launched for a period of 6 months. That means tourists from these countries can travel to Sri Lanka without a visa. This facility will be launched from October 1 this year.
