Monday Nov 11, 2024
FT
Monday Nov 11, 2024
Friday, 7 June 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
In a much-anticipated move, the British High Commission yesterday softened its travel advisory, encouraging travellers to return to Sri Lanka.
The UK is the third largest source of tourists to Sri Lanka, and the tourism industry was concerned over the delay in revising its travel advisories, given that several other European countries including Germany, Switzerland and Sweden had softened their travel advisories in previous weeks.
“The UK is no longer advising British travellers and tourists against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka. We have kept our travel advice under constant review since the Easter Sunday attacks, engaging closely with the Sri Lankan Government, the tourism industry, and the police.
We now assess that the risk to British people in Sri Lanka has reduced enough for us to make this change. However, no foreign travel can ever be guaranteed as safe, and our new travel advice reflects our assessment that terrorists are very likely to attempt to carry out further attacks in Sri Lanka,” a statement from the British High Commission said.
Acting High Commissioner Tom Burn said: “I am glad that we have been able to make this change. We know how difficult these weeks have been for everyone in Sri Lanka who relies on tourism for a living.
Our primary concern will always be safety, and our travel advice continues to warn of the threat of further attacks in Sri Lanka. But we hope that the change we have made today will help Sri Lanka’s recovery from the Easter Sunday attacks, and to efforts to build a safe and inclusive future for everyone.”
India and China, which are the top two sources of tourists to Sri Lanka, also revised their travel advisories, raising hopes that the tourism industry would be able to recover from its post-Easter Sunday attack slump.
