No visa on arrival in SL for citizens of 39 countries

“Although arrangements were in place to issue visas on arrival for citizens of 39 countries, we have now decided to hold it for the time being in consideration of the current security situation,” Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said in a statement. “Investigations have revealed foreign links to the attacks and we don’t want this facility to be abused,” Amaratunga added.

The visas on arrival pilot programme was part of a larger initiative to increase tourist arrivals to the country during the six month off-season period from May to October.

The island nation received 7,40,600 foreign tourists in the first three months of 2019. Around 450,000 Indians visited Sri Lanka last year and the island nation was expecting the total Indian tourist arrivals to cross one million mark in 2019.

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which accounts for around five per cent of the country’s GDP, is likely to suffer due to the Easter blasts. Tourism revenues in Lanka increased to $362.7 million in November from $284 million in October 2018, according to reports.

Lanka revises toll to 253

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned over his failure to prevent the Easter terror attacks even as the Health Ministry on Thursday night sharply revised the death toll downward to 253, saying the previous figure of 359 was due to a “calculation error”. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said authorities were targeting “sleepers” who could trigger another round of bombings. More on P12