The Sri Lankan government will offer the promotion starting May 1 which is free visa on arrival for Pakistan.
John Amaratunga, Sri Lanka’s minister of tourism development, had said earlier that Sri Lanka hopes to extend the free visa scheme to Chinese tourists and citizens of SAARC countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The scheme will initially run for six months but could continue if the move significantly boosts tourist numbers.
The Srilanka govt wants to attract the tourists from all over the world during its lull Yala monsoon season which starts from May till August.
Sri Lanka’s tourism has boomed over the last decade with over 2.1 million tourists having visited in 2017 as compared to 448,000 in 2009, according to the nation’s Tourism Development Authority. The Sri Lankan government aims to double this figure by 2019.
