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Cabinet has approved a joint proposal by multiple ministries to allow a Chinese company to process visas for Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka in the Chinese language using the Electronic Travel Authorisation System (ETA).
The Department of Emigration and Immigration follows the Electronic Travel Authorisation System (ETA) since 2012 for issuance of visas to tourists from a range of countries wishing to travel to Sri Lanka.
However, Chinese tourists have found it difficult to use the ETA as it is only available in English, Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said. Therefore, many Chinese people resort to travel agents to get visa or face delays due to the language barrier.
“As a remedy to these circumstances it has been observed that these tourists obtain assistance from private agencies when travelling to Sri Lanka. Tourism revenue is important to Sri Lanka and the Government is dedicated to assisting the industry as much as possible. It was decided to allow a sub-agent based in China to provide the service in Chinese,” he added.
Accordingly the proposal submitted by the Minister of Mahaweli, Agriculture, Irrigation, Rural Development, the Minister of Internal Trade, Food Security and Consumer Welfare and the State Minister of National Defence to obtain the services of Travelson International Travel Services (Shanghai) Limited was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Last year Sri Lanka received the second highest number of tourists from China amounting to a total of 167,863 while the industry is estimated to have earned a total of $ 3 billion in revenue.
