The cost of a visa for UK visitors to Sri Lanka has been reduced from $50 to $20 following concerns voiced by the travel industry.
The new Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) replaces the free visa-on-arrival system and must be purchased online.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau announced that the reduced fee will be charged when the visas are introduced on January 1, and that transit passengers and children under 12 will not have to pay any visa charges.
Sri Lanka has seen a small 1% growth in tourist arrivals this year, compared to 20% in 2010, which SLTPB director Sanjika Perera attributes in part to a shortage of hotel rooms.
The destination has ambitious plans to double the number of hotel rooms in the country to 45,000 by 2016, in order to accommodate its target visitor numbers of 2.5 million, of which it hopes 500,000 will come from the UK.
A second international airport on the country’s south coast at Hambantota is scheduled to open in December next year.