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Reopening airports: No final decision on tourist arrivals

21 Dec 2020

A final decision on the date and number of tourists that would be brought down to the country as a pilot project to see the viability of reopening the country for tourism is to be made soon, according to Secretary to the State Ministry of Primary Healthcare, Epidemics, and Covid Disease Control Dr. Amal Harsha. He told The Morning that discussions were still ongoing to fix a date to bring down tourists and the number of tourists that would be brought down under the pilot project. “We are focusing on bringing down an amount that can be handled by the health authorities without giving them an additional burden,” he said. The reopening of the tourism sector is dependent on the success of the pilot project to be launched, the Secretary said, adding that a decision has been made to conduct the pilot project. However, no decision on the dates of bringing down the tourists is fixed yet.   Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism, at a meeting held last week regarding reopening the airport, reached a decision to allow only 500 tourists to arrive in Sri Lanka daily, according to the Ministry. Accordingly, all arriving tourists will be subjected to PCR tests and referred for quarantine at the respective hotels. There are 58 hotels registered for this purpose and the operations at these hotels are conducted under the Covid-19 containment regulations, the Ministry said. It is also reported that a Russian tour group has been granted permission to visit Sri Lanka and will be the first batch of tourists to enter the country after reopening the airport on 26 December.


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