Key campaigner welcomes new UK advisory; says major win

Foreign and Comm-onwealth Development Office advice on Sri Lanka has been revised after a major campaign led by UK firm Experience Travel Group.

In January 2024, Experience Travel Group (ETG) organised and led an open letter, published in The Independent.

The signatories warned that FCDO’s official page on Sri Lanka “systematically undermines the travel industry,” and was supported by prominent UK parliamentarians, Sri Lankan travel providers, and celebrities including former cricket star Kumar Sangakkara. The following month Experience Travel Group joined forces with the Association of Independent Tour Operators, to commission polling of 4,000 people across the UK.

The research revealed that three in every four British tourists (74%) would turn down even a free holiday if Foreign Office travel advice suggested a destination was unsafe. 

British travellers were more likely to seek out government advice when travelling to Asia, with 73% saying they would do so compared with only 46% making a European trip.

In March, Lord Naseby, Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka, raised the campaign and the polling data in the House of Lords, urging Foreign Secretary David Cameron to revise the advice.

On Saturday the Sri Lankan President’s Media Division announced that the UK advice had been updated owing to the country’s “current economic advancement”. 53,926 UK tourists had visited the country in the first three months of 2024, the Division said.

Experience Travel Group CEO Sam Clark said: “This is a major win for all those who signed up to our public campaign for fairer, more accurate travel guidance on Sri Lanka. Nobody should deny themselves the beauties and cultural riches of this amazing country just because of a moderate risk that exists everywhere. After all the UK itself is no stranger to political protest. If people are deterred from travel on that basis, they would never even leave their own front doors.”