Premasiri
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A proposal has been made by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) to increase the validity period of tourist visas to six months from the current period of one month, according to the SLTDA.
The proposal has been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers and is likely to be taken up this week, SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told The Sunday Morning Business last week.
“Normally you have to pay $ 35 to get a one-month visa and pay again for an extension, which is a hassle. So I have suggested charging a one-time fee of $ 35 for a six-month visa,” Fernando added.
The extension has been proposed due to lengthy quarantine procedures tourists have to adhere to when they visit the country and also to encourage tourists to stay for a longer period, according to Fernando.
She stated that the international travellers who arrive in Sri Lanka after the country eventually opens for tourism will be required to go through a compulsory 14-day quarantine period at selected hotels.
After completing the initial 14 day period, tourists can be moved to another set of selected hotels, where they get to visit designated tourist hotspots during specified hours while undergoing the second 14-day quarantine period. As the quarantine process alone takes 28 days, the SLTDA believes a visa valid for just one month would not suffice.
Further, when a visa is extended to six months for the same cost of that of one month, it is believed that tourists tend to stay for a longer period, increasing the tourism revenue for Sri Lanka.
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