Govenment Involvement & Measures

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After closing airports to commercial traffic in March 2020, Sri Lanka opened up again to foreign tourist arrivals under a “Bio bubble” concept in January 2021.  “Bio bubble” waives the quarantine requirements for leisure travellers, allowing them to leave the confines of their hotel rooms, so long as they stay at approved hotels and refrain from interacting with locals.   Fully vaccinated tourists are allowed to bypass the “bio bubble” and travel freely within the country after a negative PCR test performed on arrival, but the implementation of the program remained challenged as of September 2021.

 

The Sri Lankan government has cancelled visa fees for international tourists from  48 countries as of the first day of August 2019. As a result, travellers who apply for 30-day tourist visas will no longer be obliged to pay for their visas upon arrival. As a result, as a growingly popular and internationally acknowledged tourist destination, Sri Lanka presents exciting and lucrative investment prospects for those who are willing to take the risk. As a result, in the first five months of 2021, close to 15,300 tourists have visited the country. Further measures included a reduction in airline ground charges and aviation fuel prices.

 

To revive the sector, the government has also announced numerous COVID relief measures. Those are giving VAT exemption, moratorium extension, waiving off renewal fees and liquor license fees for SLTDA licensed establishments.  Moreover giving a grace period for utility payments and vehicle lease rentals, loan schemes for affected industries, and wage support schemes for hotels and travel agents, etc. It is also another effective step taken by the government to expedite the complete vaccination of the people of the country and to make it mandatory to adopt safe methods.

 

Comments

  1. Madushana JayakodyNovember 12, 2021 at 10:46 PM

    Very informative....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Upekha WickramasingheNovember 13, 2021 at 2:48 AM

    Government involvement is not even covering 60%. To rice up the tourism again, government should more focus on investment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nilma SenadeeraNovember 14, 2021 at 3:50 AM

    It’s really amazing how much you’ve written. It was really sad that the airports were closed

    ReplyDelete
  4. DilNovember 14, 2021 at 5:24 AM

    Nicely written! I like the topic.

    ReplyDelete

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