Sri Lanka Pilots Free Visa-On-Arrival Program for 35 Countries to Boost Tourism

Sri Lanka recently announced a new pilot program that will provide free 30-day tourist visas to visitors from 35 countries. Set to launch on October 1, 2024, this initiative will also temporarily eliminate the standard $50 visa fee for eligible travelers, and will run for six months, ending in April 2025. Tourists coming from this select group of countries, which includes the U.S., will be issued free tourist visas once they arrive. The program is open to tourists from the South Asian country’s major travel markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, India and Russia.

The announcement, made by Sri Lankan Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardana during a cabinet briefing held on August 22, represents part of the country’s broader efforts to position itself as a leading travel destination. “The aim of the government is to transform Sri Lanka into a free visa country, much like Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, to tap into the benefits of a rapidly growing tourism industry,” Gunawardana said.

The timing of the program aligns with Sri Lanka’s peak travel season, which spans from December to mid-April when the island experiences its best weather. The picturesque island nation was among those battered by the tourism halt brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in 2022, it was hit by a severe financial crisis that set off large-scale protests and saw its population of 22 million struggling to find such essentials as fuel.

But, over the past year, Sri Lanka has witnessed a resurgence in tourism. Nearly 1.2 million visitors arrived in the country between January and July 2024, a dramatic increase from the 720,000 who visited throughout 2022. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka reported that tourism revenue for the first half of 2024 exceeded $1.5 billion, roughly $625 million more than was generated during the same period in 2023. Much of this growth has come from India, Russia and the UK, the top three sources of international travelers to the island.

This is not the first time Sri Lanka has offered free visas. In 2019, a similar six-month visa waiver program was introduced to revitalize tourism after the devastating Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Colombo. Now, as the country rebounds from the dual challenges of the pandemic lull and its 2022 financial difficulties, the government is once again leaning on the tourism sector to help stabilize its economy.

The free visa program is one of several initiatives aimed at attracting travelers. Sri Lanka has recently opened the Pekoe Trail, a scenic hiking route through its famous tea plantations, and new boutique hotels like Kayaam House and wellness retreats like Taprana are catering to luxury travelers. The island’s southern coast, once widely overlooked, is quickly becoming a hotspot for high-end resorts, surf clubs and trendy bars, drawing adventure and lifestyle tourists alike.