China, India among 35 countries added to Sri Lanka visa-free list to boost tourism

Tourists will be given 30-day visas under a six-month pilot programme that will start from October 1, said cabinet spokesman and Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardana.

“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 told reporters at a weekly cabinet briefing.

The extensive list includes India, China, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Australia, Denmark, Poland, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nepal, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and France.

But the tourism industry is reaping the benefits of a turnaround that began last year with Sri Lanka clocking nearly 2 million arrivals by mid-August, for the first time since 2019.

The island is expecting to close the year at 2.3 million arrivals.

India is the largest source of tourists with 246,922 arrivals, followed by the UK with 123,992, latest data from the Sri Lanka Development Authority showed.

Sri Lanka earned US$1.5 billion from tourism in the first six months of 2024, up from US$875 million during the same period last year, according to the central bank.