Sri Lanka will implement the free visa-on-arrival scheme for six months starting from today in order to boost tourism, which witnessed a slump following the Easter Sunday bombings.

The launch of the initiative was announced by Tourism Minister John Amaratunga, at a forum held in Colombo yesterday (31)

 “The Government expects a substantial increase in tourist arrivals through this move. This initiative will be valid for six months and will be trying to see how beneficial this is going to be,” Minister Amaratunga said.

The 49 countries whose citizens are eligible for free-visa-on-arrival are: Austria, Australia,  Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada,Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia,Malta, Netherlands,New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea,Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.