Tourism industry applauds UK
decision to ease travel advisory

The Tourism Industry hailed the relaxation of travel advisory to Sri Lanka by UK as a positive signal to the rest of the world yesterday.
“The travel advisories have been our biggest problem,” Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators Chairman Chandra Wickremasinghe said. “And we are extremely happy with the step taken by the British Government.”
Britain has relaxed its travel advice from ‘high’ to ‘general’, a status that is attributed to many countries across the world so Wickremasinghe said that the reduction in the advisory was akin to having no warning. “We are confident that this would be a signal to many other countries. Already, we are seeing an increase in the number of inquiries and holiday bookings to the country. By word of mouth and by successful holidays in Sri Lanka, the message is spreading that this is a safe destination to visit.”
He informed that in the past close to 75,000 British travelers would visit the country. Britain had the most number of arrivals last month with 8671 tourists and Wickremasinghe pointed out that although the month of September is a relatively slow month, the winter season will see burgeoning numbers from the entire European region.
“We will see the increase in bookings for the winter season from this week till mid October,” he informed, “And we are seeing a rise in MICE and corporate bookings.”
Colombo City Hotels Association Chairman M. Shantikumar echoed his views adding that the Colombo Hotels were preparing for a busy winter after a lukewarm September. “The decision taken by the UK Government is very good for the industry,” he concluded.
Britain announced yesterday it has further relaxed its travel advice to Sri Lanka, reducing it from a “high” threat to “general” from terrorism.
Acting British High Commissioner Mark Gooding commented yesterday on the UK Government’s further relaxation of its travel advice to Sri Lanka in a statement noting that “The Foreign and Commonwealth Office updated its travel advice for Sri Lanka yesterday to reflect our latest assessment of the current security situation. We have relaxed our advice so that we are now informing travellers that there is a general (as opposed to high) threat from terrorism.”
He added that this means that there is, “some level of known terrorist activity in-country” and insisted that this latest change is a sensible precautionary measure that reflects the latest available information, and is intended to help UK nationals make informed decisions on whether to travel to Sri Lanka.
“We continue to recommend strongly that UK nationals who are resident, working, or visiting Sri Lanka for over a month also register with the British High Commission, in Colombo,” the statement added.