US Lifts Sri Lanka Travel Warning
by admin on мая.31, 2010, under Travel insurance
The U.S. State Department announced this week that it had lifted the travel warning for Sri Lanka, citing “improvements in safety and security conditions throughout the country.”
“The Travel Warning issued for Sri Lanka on Nov. 19, 2009 has been cancelled, effective May 26, 2010,” the State Department said in a statement. “Department of State has cancelled the travel warning for Sri Lanka due to improvements in safety and security conditions throughout the country. The government of Sri Lanka declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on May 18, 2009. Since the war’s declared end, the LTTE has not mounted any attacks in Colombo or elsewhere in Sri Lanka.”
The announcement came in the midst of an official visit by Sri Lanka’s Minister of External Affairs G.L. Peiris who met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday. At the joint press conference following discussions between the minister and the secretary, Peiris said, “I expressed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s thanks to Hillary Clinton for the steps that have been taken by the State Department to remove the travel warning on Sri Lanka that is a recognition of the improvement, the basic (inaudible) improvement of the security situation.”
Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya welcomed the decision.
“We welcome the State Department’s recognition of Sri Lanka as a peaceful and prosperous nation that is of course safe for visitors,” Wickramasuriya said. “We have been working with the State Department for some time to lift this warning, and I am heartened that it has occurred during Minister Peiris’ Washington visit.”
The lifting of the warming will likely boost tourism to the island. Officials are already expecting greater numbers of visitors to Sri Lanka, backed by recommendations by the New York Times and National Geographic.
Speaking to the AFP, the managing director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Dileep Mudadeniya said, “This is something we have been looking forward to. It will have a knock-on effect on
(travel) insurance rates and also encourage more business travel from the West.”
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