Private sector steps up lobbying for tourist visa fee waiver

The private sector yesterday stepped up lobbying for the waiver of visas for tourists, citing the successes of other Asian nations which have taken similar bold measures, calling on the Government to not only focus on the visa revenue.

Industry sources said within the Asian region, much of the tourists are from within Asia itself. However, Sri Lanka has a much lower proportion of Asian tourists out of the total tourists (around 41% of total tourist arrivals) compared to destinations like Myanmar and Cambodia who receive over 75% of tourists from Asia. 

One key reason is that Sri Lanka is one of very few countries that require a visa fee from most other Asian countries – in fact very few countries are exempted from this visa fee upon arriving in Sri Lanka.

While this fee has currently been removed for 49 countries in an attempt to revive tourism following the Easter Sunday attacks, industry experts believe that this should continue beyond being an interim measure, and recommend that the Visa requirement be removed altogether, as the loss in fiscal revenues earned due to this measure is likely to be more than offset by the expansion in arrivals, and, in turn, earnings. 

They could also extend the visa exemption to other countries which have the potential for more tourists such as Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Spain.

In addition to the impact of lower costs, another key point addressed by removing the visa requirement is that the process becomes hassle-free, which may serve as a psychological barrier to potential tourists.

They also said removal of visa fees have proven to be very effective in providing an impetus to the tourism sector in several regional destinations as well. “For example, Bali scrapped its Visa fees from Chinese and Australian tourists in 2015 and early 2016, respectively, which resulted in boosts of 41% and 16% YOY growth in tourists during 2016. Vietnam and Thailand too have taken measures to exempt visa fees in varied instances to provide stimulus to the sector,” industry experts pointed out.