By: Staff Writer
September 08, Colombo (LNW): Taking inspiration from Singapore, the Sri Lankan government has announced the immediate implementation of a visa-free policy for travelers from 38 countries. This move comes after a month of issuing visas on arrival, following the suspension of the country’s e-Visa system due to management issues with a foreign consortium.
To simplify entry procedures and boost tourism, Sri Lanka recently launched a visa-free initiative for citizens of 35 countries, effective from October 1, 2024. As the country continues to explore options such as e-Visas, Electronic Travel Authorizations (ETAs), or free Visas on Arrival, it has now introduced another measure to ease entry for international visitors.
On September 2, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Sabry, announced via X (formerly Twitter) that the Cabinet has authorized the President to implement visa-free access for 38 nationalities immediately, adopting a streamlined approach similar to Singapore’s.
This decision aims to alleviate congestion at visa counters, as recent reports from Sri Lankan media indicate long queues at the visa on arrival counters at Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport.
Despite these efforts, Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals in August fell significantly short of the monthly target, marking the largest gap observed this year. Provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) shows a 20.7% year-on-year increase in arrivals, with 164,609 visitors in August.
However, this number was still 38,298 short of the projected 202,907 arrivals for the month. Year-to-date (YTD) tourist arrivals have reached 1.36 million.
The shortfall exceeded the previous largest gap recorded in June, which was also impacted by visa-related issues.
Although the first half of August showed promise with an average of 6,545 daily arrivals, the momentum dropped sharply in the latter half, with a low of 2,804 arrivals on August 28. The daily arrival average for August was 5,310, down from July’s 6,058.
India remains the largest source of tourists, with 33,031 arrivals in August, followed by the UK with 17,587 and China with 11,333. Germany and Italy also ranked among the top five, with Russia returning to the top 10 markets, contributing 4,351 visitors.
India continues to lead as the top source market for the year, with 258,672 arrivals, while the UK surpassed Russia to take the second spot with 127,776 visitors. Russia is now in third place with 123,033 arrivals.
For 2024, Sri Lanka has set a goal to attract 2.3 million tourists and generate over $4 billion in revenue.
