The government of Sri Lanka has announced the revival of visa on arrival for international tourists, except for those from 10 countries. Foreign tourists had been barred from applying for visas on arrival since the pandemic broke out in 2020.
Tourism, one of the country’s main forex earners, has been badly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, and this move is expected to help rejuvenate the island’s tourism industry.
“The issuance of electronic travel authorisations (ETA) for tourists at the Sri Lankan border has been activated as of 8 February 2022. In order to facilitate tourists experiencing difficulties in obtaining an online ETA due to the time constraints of arranging their Sri Lanka journey, we are offering this service,” according to a recent government statement.
Nevertheless, the service will not be available to passport holders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Nepal and North Korea, the government said.
In January 2021, Sri Lanka had just 1,600 tourist arrivals. In January 2022, it recorded over 82,000 tourists.
