Sri Lanka will give free tourist visa to citizens of seven countries including India, China and Russia. The country’s cabinet approved the proposal on Tuesday.
The remaining countries are Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Reuters reported this information in a report on Tuesday (October 24).
Citizens of these countries will get this facility till March 31, 2024 under a pilot scheme. Sri Lanka has set a target of revitalizing the tourism sector and reaching 5 million tourist arrivals by 2026 Provision of free tourist visas is part of this programme.
According to Sri Lanka Development Authority data, 2 lakh 310 Indian tourists have visited Sri Lanka so far this year, which is the highest among all countries. Then there are Russian tourists – 132 thousand 300 people.
According to Central Bank data, Sri Lanka earned 1.3 billion dollars from the tourism sector in the first eight months of this year. The figure was 833 million dollars in the same period last year.
