As Sri Lanka tries to revive the tourism sector, which was hit by the Easter Sunday bombings, the country has extended the free visa-on-arrival scheme till 30 April for the citizens of 48 countries. This was announced by Prasanna Ranatunga, tourism minister of Sri Lanka.

In April last year, it had suspended plans to grant visa-on-arrival to citizens of 39 countries after the devastating bombings that killed 258 people. In July, the nation added more countries, after it re-launched the free visa on arrival scheme, which was implemented from 1 August.

“We have decided to extend this facility due to requests from the stakeholders. A cabinet paper would be submitted for this purpose,” Ranatunga said. In the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, the USD 20 visa fee for South Asian travellers and USD 35 fee applicable to visitors from the rest of the world were waived off.