Indian Tourists Can Now Travel To Sri Lanka Without Paying Visa Fee Till April 2020

If travelling is on your bucket list for 2020, then we have some exciting news for you! From going on a solo trip to visiting exotic locations, travelling can get quite expensive sometimes and saving money is always good news for any avid traveller.

Now, Indian passport holders can save some quick bucks while planning a trip to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government has extended the free visa-on-arrival scheme till April 30 for  Indians, reports NDTV.  The $20 (Rs 1400 approximately) visa fee for South Asian travellers including tourists from India and $35 (Rs 2500 approximately) fee for visitors from the rest of the world has been waived off.

The country is trying to revive its tourism sector which was hit by the Easter Sunday bombings in April last year. “We have decided to extend this facility due to requests from the stakeholders. A Cabinet paper would be submitted for this purpose,” Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga was quoted saying by Times of India.

In the aftermath of the attacks, the island’s GDP was dealt a severe blow as the suicide bombings killed over 260 people at three luxury hotels and three churches. Due to this,  tourists were apprehensive and allegedly cancelled their prior bookings leading to heavy losses for the tourism industry.

The country is now struggling to revive its tourism sector as only 1.6 million tourists visited the country from January to November in 2019, compared to the 2 million arrivals in the same period for 2018.

The island city that is visited by many Indian tourists has waived the fees for citizens of 48 countries including China, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Philippines, Russia and England.

We hope the wavier encourages people to visit the island city and enjoy its scenic beauty.

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