Sri Lanka is making it easier for people from some countries to visit.
They’re getting rid of the visa requirement, which means you don’t need special permission to enter the country.
This applies to citizens of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand. Originally, this visa-free travel was supposed to end in April, but now it’s been extended to May 24th of this year.
Sri Lanka is doing this to boost tourism. Tourism is a big part of their economy, but it’s been struggling lately. There were terrorist attacks a few years ago, and then the pandemic shut down travel almost completely.
This visa-free program seems to be working! In just the first few months of this year, over 600,000 tourists visited Sri Lanka, which is almost as many as visited in 2018, before the pandemic. Sri Lanka hopes to attract even more tourists in the coming years, and this extension of the visa-free program is a big part of that plan.
The more tourists who visit, the better things will be for Sri Lanka’s economy. So, if you’re from one of these countries and have been thinking about a trip to Sri Lanka, this might be the perfect time to go!