As a means to recover the country's tourism industry following the Easter Sunday attacks, Sri Lanka granted free visas to travellers from 48 countries, for a period of six months from 1 August 2019.

As the free visa program has been helpful for the post-Easter Sunday setback and key for a more complete recovery, the proposal presented by Minister of Tourism and Aviation to extend the free visa-on-arrival scheme till April 30, 2020 for the citizens of 48 countries was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.