Dobbs given temporary visa

Wednesday, 25 December 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Australian owner of one of the world’s most exclusive hotels has been given temporary permission to return to his adopted Sri Lankan homeland after being barred in a spat over the national flag, the AFP news agency reported. Geoffrey Dobbs, who is also the organiser of an international literary festival in the tourist city of Galle, was initially turned back at the Colombo airport for the second time in five days.

But an immigration official said that he had been granted a one-month temporary visa, only minutes before he was due to be flown back to Thailand on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight. “He is being given a one-month visa to enter the country,” the head of immigration at Bandaranaike International Airport U.G. Udowita, told AFP. “This will give him time to sort out his paperwork,” Udowita added, without elaborating. Speaking to AFP from the airport, Dobbs confirmed that he had been told he could enter the country. “I have just been told that I can go (into the country),” Dobbs said in brief comments as he prepared to leave the transit area. Last week opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament that refusing entry to someone in the calibre of Dobbs, who had opened some hotels down south and is also mentioned in leading travel magazines, could hurt Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. The UNP leader said that while Dobbs had some issues with the Government and had to leave Sri Lanka, he was advised to return and sort his issues. (Colombo Gazette)