COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's cabinet approved issuing free tourist visas to visitors from 35 countries including China, India and Russia, a top official said on Thursday (Aug 22), in an effort to boost tourism and help revive its
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka 's cabinet approved issuing free tourist visas to visitors from 35 countries including China, India and Russia, a top official said on Thursday , in an effort to boost tourism and help revive its
"The aim of the government is to transform Sri Lanka into a free visa country, much like Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, to tap into the benefits of a rapidly growing tourism industry," Gunawardana told reporters at a weekly cabinet briefing. The country of 22 million people, famed for its beaches, ancient temples and aromatic tea, saw its tourism industry pummelled first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by a severe financial crisis in 2022 that sawBut the tourism industry is reaping the benefits of a turnaround that began last year with Sri Lanka clocking nearly 2 million arrivals by mid-August, for the first time since 2019.
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