Sri Lanka: Visa-Free Access for 35 Countries Starting October Including India, UK and US

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has announced different visa waiver policy for citizens of countries effective from October 1, 2024. This strategic initiative primarily focuses on travelers from some most popular destinations namely India, the UK, and the US.

The visa waiver is aimed at ensuring the traveling of individuals to the islands will be viewed from the perspective of their rich cultural heritage and natural beauty so that they do not need to submit visa applications. Harin Fernando advisor to the Ministry of Tourism declared that it is the change of attitude of the leaders towards tourism in Sri Lanka which is the reason for the visa remission.

A comprehensive list of countries with visa-free travel to Sri Lanka has been compiled. EU countries along with India, UK, and US as well as important Asian countries like China and Japan among others are included in this list. The policy also extends to Belgium, Spain, Australia, Denmark, Poland, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nepal, Indonesia, Russia, and Thailand. There are also other notable countries on the list apart from Burning Man like Malaysia, Japan, France, Slovenia, Canada, the Sun Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Belarus, Iran, Sweden, South Korea, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and New Zealand.

Under the new policy, the visa-issuing procedure will replace the old system, which involved a company issuing visas upon arrival, therefore doing away with the customer fees charged earlier. Until now, tourists from India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia could enter Sri Lanka visa-free. The recent verdict of the Cabinet builds upon the project, which was commenced in October and is intended to be completed in March of 2024.

The announcement by Sri Lanka is a decision to be more attractive as a tourist spot and a way to build stronger diplomatic relations with other countries. By scrapping the visa provisions for travelers from these 35 countries, Sri Lanka is not only accrediting itself as the tourist choice of many people but the country will resuscitate the industry and will be the subject of goodwill. At the same time, this policy is also expected to give a further boost to the hospitality and tourism sectors along with increasing the number of visitors.