Sri Lanka Offers Free Visas to Visitors From India and 6 Other Countries

Colombo: In a move aimed at revitalizing Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, the Department of Immigration and Emigration has announced that Indian tourists, the largest inbound group, will now receive free tourist visas with immediate effect.

This initiative, stemming from a Cabinet decision in October, also extends to travellers from China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand. The effort seeks to boost tourism, which suffered a decline since the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

The free visa program, a pilot project, will be in effect until March 31, 2024. Under this arrangement, tourists will be granted dual entry status upon arrival, with a visa validity of 30 days for their stay in the island nation. India has traditionally been Sri Lanka’s primary inbound tourism market.

As of October 2023, Indian tourist arrivals led the charts, comprising over 28,000 arrivals, constituting 26% of the total. Russian tourists followed as the second-largest group with over 10,000 arrivals, and British tourists ranked third with over 8,000 arrivals.

This move comes in the backdrop of a significant decline in tourist arrivals since the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which claimed 270 lives, including 11 Indians, and left over 500 injured. Sri Lanka, grappling with economic challenges, has faced shortages of essential items such as food, medicine, cooking gas, fuel, toilet paper, and matches.

In March, the International Monetary Fund approved a USD 3 billion bailout to aid Sri Lanka in reviving its struggling economy.