Sri Lanka has announced a significant step towards boosting its tourism industry by providing visa-free access to citizens of 35 countries, including India, starting from October 1. This move, reported by the Sri Lanka-based Daily Mirror, was confirmed by Harin Fernando, an advisor to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Tourism.The list of eligible countries encompasses major global players, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, New Zealand, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and Australia. This initiative is seen as a strategic effort to revitalize the countrys tourism sector, which has been recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry hailed this development as a crucial step towards establishing a visa-free regime in the future. First steps towards a visa-free regime! Sabry remarked in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He further supported this initiative by sharing data from the Sri Lankan Tourism Authority, highlighting the resurgence of tourism in the country.According to the data, Sri Lanka witnessed 2,333,796 tourists in 2018 and 1,913,702 in 2019, before the numbers plummeted during the pandemic years. The recent figures reveal a promising recovery, with 1,487,303 tourists visiting in 2023 and 1,315,884 so far in 2024. Sabry expressed optimism that the island nation would soon return to its pre-pandemic levels of tourism. We are well on course to achieve the pre-COVID level. @Sri Lanka can - Sri Lanka will! he stated confidently.This announcement comes as Sri Lanka gears up for its presidential election on September 21. Current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office in July 2022 after the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has announced his candidacy for re-election. However, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the largest party in parliament and previously associated with the powerful Rajapaksa brothers, has decided not to back Wickremesinghe, instead fielding its own candidate.
