updated 9:39 a.m. ET May 27, 2010
WASHINGTON - The State Department announced Wednesday it had canceled a travel warning for Sri Lanka, in a boost for the Indian Ocean island state that ended a long war last year and hopes to draw more tourists.
The end of the travel warning comes just over a year after Sri Lanka declared victory over the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) following 27 years of civil war.
The LTTE had not staged any attacks in the capital Colombo or elsewhere in Sri Lanka since then, the State Department said in a statement.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris is scheduled to hold talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington Friday. (Reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Eric Walsh)
source - http://www.msnbc.msn.com
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01. US withdraws Lanka travel warning by http://www.hindustantimes.com/
The US have lifted travel restrictions to Sri Lanka clearing the way for a further boost to the tourism industry and foreign investment in the island nation.
In its statement, the US state department noted that, "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 travel warning issued for Sri Lanka on November 19, 2009 has been cancelled, effective May 26, 2010," the statement said. "Department of State has cancelled the travel warning for Sri Lanka due to improvements in safety and security conditions throughout the country."
"This is something we have been looking forward to," tourism bureau chief Dileep Mudadeniya told AFP. "It will have a knock-on effect on (travel) insurance rates and also encourage more business travel from the West."
After the end of the war, many western countries have either scale down or totally done away with restrictions on travel to Sri Lanka. Some countries continue to warn their citizens against visiting former battle zones in the north, which could still be heavily mined.
The New York Times in January listed Sri Lanka as the number one destination to visit in 2010, citing the war's conclusion and Sri Lanka's historical sites, lush forest and broad beaches. National Geographic and the luxury living website Dailycandy.com also both gave Sri Lanka high rankings as a travel destination in 2010.
The state department announcement came two days before Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris - on a four-day visit to the US -- was scheduled to hold talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Friday.
Peiris had urged the US not to be one sided by focusing only on human rights issues when there are business and other opportunities in post-war Sri Lanka. "We are not in anyway resentful of the focus on human rights. That is understandable. We are not complaining about it," Peiris told a gathering in the US. "But we are making the point that the relationship should not be one-dimensional. There are many other things that Sri Lanka and the United States can do together," he said.
02. Sri Lanka welcomes U.S. move to cancel travel warning - http://news.xinhuanet.com
COLOMBO, May 27 (Xinhua) -- A decision by the United States government to lift an adverse travel advisory to Sri Lanka would encourage tourism growth in Sri Lanka, a top official claimed on Thursday.
"It is a very welcome development," Dileep Mudadeniya, chief of government tourism promotion agency told reporters.
"The travel advisory meant that U.S. business travellers and tourists needed approval to visit Sri Lanka. This requirement will no longer apply helping to increase arrivals of U.S. travellers," Mudadeniya noted.
The U.S. State Department said that "the Travel Warning issued for Sri Lanka has been cancelled, effective May 26, 2010" due to improvements in safety and security conditions throughout the country.
The military defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, ending a 30-year-old civil war in the country.
03. Sri Lanka welcomes US decision to cancel travel advisory - http://www.colombopage.com
May 27, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government today welcomed the United States' decision to cancel the travel warning it issued last year on Sri Lanka.
A top Sri Lankan government official said the move by the US, coming a year after three decades of conflict ended last May, would boost tourism and investment in the country.
Effective yesterday, the United States Department of State cancelled the travel warning issued for Sri Lanka on November 19, 2009.
"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," Tourism Bureau chief Dileep Mudadeniya told AFP.
The US Department of State said yesterday it has cancelled the Travel Warning for Sri Lanka due to improvements in safety and security conditions throughout the country.
"Since the war's declared end, the LTTE has not mounted any attacks in Colombo or elsewhere in Sri Lanka," the State Department said in a statement.
Sri Lanka's is seeing a revival in the tourism industry after the end of the war a year ago. The tourist arrivals have been steadily increasing since the end of the war and recent data from the Tourist Board has shown that Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals jumped by 50.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a year earlier.
The Tourism Board says it is hoping to attract 2.5 million visitors by 2016 and to earn 2 billion-dollar annual income from tourism by 2012
03. Sri Lanka welcomes end to US travel warning by - http://www.lankabusinessonline.com
May 27, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka on Thursday welcomed the lifting of a US warning against travel to the Indian Ocean island, anticipating a boost to tourism and investment a year after a bloody civil war ended.
"This is something we have been looking forward to," tourism bureau chief Dileep Mudadeniya said. "It will have a knock-on effect on (travel) insurance rates and also encourage more business travel from the West."
The US announcement came soon after the first anniversary of the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels in a brutal military offensive that finally ended the guerrillas' separatist campaign after 37 years of war.
The conflict claimed up to 100,000 lives, according to United Nations estimates.
The US State Department said in a statement that it had "cancelled the Travel Warning for Sri Lanka due to improvements in safety and security conditions throughout the country".
Tourists were not directly targeted even during the worst of fighting between troops and Tamil Tigers, but the violence seriously affected the island's image.
The tourism industry is now staging a dramatic revival.
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