Sri Lanka is now allowing fully vaccinated international travellers to enter the country without undergoing quarantine, as the country looks to restart its tourism engine.

Vaccinated tourists are required to only spend 24 hours in a dedicated hotel facility to await their on-arrival PCR test results. Once they test negative, they will be allowed to leave the hotel and go about their activities. On the other hand, non-vaccinated tourists have to undergo a 14-day quarantine in a safe and certified hotel.

Meanwhile, tourism authorities are forging ahead with a campaign to inoculate all tourism industry workers by October. Sri Lanka’s vaccination rollout campaign is also speedily moving ahead, with plans to complete vaccinating all those above 30 years of age by September.

Kimarli Fernando, chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism, the state tourism promotion agency, said that with the success of the national vaccination rollout programme, Sri Lanka is ready to welcome fully-vaccinated foreign travellers while ensuring the safety and security of local communities.

The national tourism agency is also working together with national carrier SriLankan Airlines to launch a buy-one-get-one-free air ticket campaign next month across 18 key markets. They are the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and the Maldives, according to sources at the national carrier.