Sri Lanka suspends visa-on-arrival programme

Thursday, 25 April 2019 16:25

Sri Lanka has temporarily put its new visa-on-arrival programme on hold due to the security situation in the island nation.

The programme was expected to be implemented from May 1 for tourists from over 30 countries.

"Investigations have revealed foreign links to the attacks and we do not want this facility to be abused," the country’s Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said in a statement.

The pilot programme was part of a larger initiative to boost tourism during the off-season period from May to October.

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena said 139 people have been identified as suspects in connection with the attacks.

More from International News

US military targets IS in Syria strikes

The US military said on Saturday it carried out multiple strikes in Syria targeting ISIS as part of an operation that Washington launched in December after an attack on American personnel.
Israeli fire kills three people in Gaza, tension rises

Israeli fire killed at least three Palestinians in two separate incidents across Gaza, local health authorities said, as tension rises over continued violence.
Tens of thousands protest in Minneapolis over fatal ICE shooting

Tens of thousands of people marched through Minneapolis on Saturday to decry the fatal shooting of a woman by a US immigration agent, part of more than 1,000 rallies planned nationwide over the weekend against the federal government's deportation drive.
One dead in Australian bush fires

At least one person has died in Australia's southeast where bushfires raging for days have razed buildings, cut power to thousands of homes and burned swathes of bushland, police said on Sunday.