Визы, РСТ, Россия, Заграница, Транспорт, Волонтерство, Туризм и закон, RTN Tech, Туристам,
Главные новости

Visas to Sri-Lanka now cheaper, but more problems for tour operators

08:07, 18 ноября 2011

Sri-Lanka has once again changed the rules of entry, for the second time this autumn. If currently tourists don't need to get a visa ahead of the trip, starting from January 1 visas upon arrival will be given only to those tourists, who will have applied for it online. Initially the visa fee was $50. Now, perhaps, to soften the negative reaction to the new policy, local authorities decided to lower the price to $20.

 

It’s also possible that the Sri-Lankan government didn’t want to ruin the successful statistics. After the first ten months of 2011 the increase of foreign tourists is 43%, reaching 667 000 people. It’s expected the total amount of entries could surpass 780 000, which is 20% more than in 2010.

 

According to Russian tour operators, this year trips to Sri-Lanka are being sold better than the year before. The demand has grown by around 10%. The companies’ representatives claim, beach tours are still quite popular, but the biggest hits are combined tours to Sri-Lanka with excursion programs to ancient cities and temples, tea plantations, parks and gardens.

 

The director general of Panteon, Anatoly Garkushin, says the floods in Thailand had a positive affect on local resorts, which pushed a part of the tourist flow to redirect to Sri-Lanka. Affordable prices are another factor, which are the result of a large amount of carriers working on this destination (SriLankan Airlines and Aeroflot began flights to the country from Moscow this autumn). According to Mr. Garkushin, December and New Year holidays are being sold very well and many Russians have already begun booking January.

 

The head of the Astravel company’s Asian department, Yelizaveta Bordykova, says the sales to Sri-Lanka for the New Year’s holidays are nearly closed, with only inconvenient dates remaining.

 

Tour operators predict the Sri-Lankan authorities’ decision to lower the visa fee should have a positive affect on the tourist flow. However, companies are currently experiencing some difficulties when preparing trips after January 1. According to Mrs. Bordykova, the new electronic system, which kicked off early in October in testing mode, shows serious errors. For instance, payments using Visa and MasterCard don’t go through. “We contacted the embassy, but they couldn’t give any precise information on when the system will work properly. At the moment we can't get visas for our tourists, hopefully the situation will change in December”, - Bordykova told RATA-news.

 

According to the new rules, tourists have to log on to eta.gov.lk ahead of the trip, fill out a form to get permission for a visa online. Permission is given for up to 30 days from the moment of entry. It’s thought the request will be reviewed not longer than for 72 hours. After receiving a positive reply the visa approval should be printed out and taken along to Sri-Lanka where it will be necessary in order to get the visa stamped in the passport. The document can also be used to get the visa at the embassy ahead of the trip.

Обсудить в telegram

вам может быть интересно