brand logo

Indian investors still permitted under biosecure bubble 

12 May 2021

  • BOI devises special window for investors

  • Permission only to stay at Shangri-La Colombo

By Karen Hapuarachchi    Even though Sri Lanka has banned travellers from India due to fears of importing Covid-19 positive cases, Indian investors and businessmen are still permitted to come into Sri Lanka, under a special biosecure bubble for Indian investors, The Ministry of Tourism told The Morning Business.  Accordingly, Indian investors and businessmen are permitted to carry out essential business activities under the purview of the Board of Investment (BOI) whilst abiding by the local health guidelines.  Ministry of Tourism Secretary S. Hettiarachchi stated that the BOI has devised a special window for Indian investors to travel between both countries.  “Firstly, the travel restrictions between both countries must be taken into consideration and the health guidelines must be heeded. However, the BOI has devised a special window for essential investors to travel between countries, under strict guidelines,” explained Hettiarachchi.  Accordingly, Indian investors who have mandatory investor-related activities in Sri Lanka must contact the BOI in order to travel into Sri Lanka under a separate special window.  “The investors must contact the BOI, afterwhich, the BOI will arrange and devise a special window for them to arrive. However, it is mandatory for them to travel straight from the airport to the Shangri-La Hotel and self-quarantine there,” added Hettiarachchi.  He further stated that after the stage of quarantine (14 days), the foreign investors are allowed to carry out the essential activities, under the health restrictions, with local counterparts and return to India.  It was also mentioned that the Shangri-La is the only hotel approved by the Tourism Ministry as of now. However, more hotels will also be under evaluation soon.  “Travel bubble” or “bilateral air bubble” is known as a mechanism used to resume flights between two countries while abiding by the relevant health regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The first flight under a travel bubble agreement between Sri Lanka and India was expected to take off by the end of April. Moreover, the Indian government also officially announced the finalisation of the air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka on Twitter.  However, due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India, Sri Lanka postponed its travel bubble with the country for the safety of Sri Lanka.  On the other hand, at the start of the year, media reports stated that Sri Lanka was looking forward to welcoming 8,000 tourists after July, especially from Western and Eastern Europe, China, and Bangladesh.  According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the monthly tourist arrivals report highlighted the total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in April 2021 amounting to 4,168.  Thereby, as of 30 April 2021, it was highlighted in the aforementioned report that 13,797 tourists have currently visited Sri Lanka for this year. The largest source markets recorded for the month of April was India, followed by China, and Kazakhstan.  India, China, Kazakhstan, Germany and the UK were also noted by the SLTDA as Sri Lanka’s top five international tourist-generating markets in the month of April this year.  In addition, India was also noted to be the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 19% of the total traffic received in the above period. It was also revealed that China accounted for 11.4% of the total traffic; while Kazakhstan, Germany, and the UK accounted for 10.6%, 9.2% and 8% respectively.


More News..