With the goal of encouraging the tourism industry, the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Colombo has announced that Indian tourists, who make up the largest inbound group visiting Sri Lanka, will be eligible for free tourist visas effective immediately.
The establishment of the facility comes after the Cabinet decided in October to grant free tourist visas to visitors from Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, China, India, and Russia in a move to revive the island nation's crippled tourism industry, which had collapsed following the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019.
Free visas are provided for the first 30 days of stay under the experimental program, which runs until March 31, 2024. Travelers will receive dual entry status upon arrival, and their 30-day stay in Sri Lanka is the maximum length of time for which their visa is valid.
India, which has always been Sri Lanka's main source of foreign visitors, will gain a lot from this project. With almost 28,000 arrivals, Indian tourists topped the charts in October 2023—a significant 26 percent rise. With nearly 8,000 arrivals, Russian tourists were the second-largest group, closely followed by British tourists in third place.
The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, which caused a drop in visitor numbers, presented difficulties for the country's tourism industry. The decision to offer free tourist visas is an attempt to boost economic recovery and draw in more tourists.
In an effort to address its economic difficulties and promote recovery, Sri Lanka, which is experiencing economic turbulence, recently obtained a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in March.
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