Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it will give one-month free visa on arrival to visitors from nearly 50 countries in its latest effort to revive the island nation’s lucrative tourism industry that was badly hit by the Easter bomb attacks that killed 263 people, Associated Press reports.
Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said tourists or those visiting for business purposes could get their free visa on arrival or applying online. The measure will be effective for six months, starting from Thursday.
He said the government expects a substantial increase of tourists from the move. “If it is not beneficial we will suspend this program,” he said.
Because of the measure, the government may lose about 4.3 billion rupees ($24 million) in revenue it could have earned from charging visas.
Sri Lanka charges $35 for a one-month tourist visa, or $20 for nationals from South Asia.
Seven suicide bombers from a local Muslim group, National Thowheed Jammath, attacked three churches and three luxury hotels on April 21, killing 263 people, including 45 foreigners mainly from China, India, the U.S. and Britain.
Many tourists cut short their holidays while others canceled their bookings, dealing a severe blow to the tourism industry, the country’s third-largest foreign currency earner after remittances from overseas workers and textile and garment exports.
According to government data, tourist arrivals declined by about 45% in July from a year earlier. However, arrivals in July, which stood at 117,000, showed a moderate increase compared to 63,072 in June.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assured that Sri Lanka is now safe for tourists and “security has returned to normalcy.”