Following the peace agreement signed between the government and the LTTE travelling to Sri Lanka now is much safer then before. Tourists who have visited Sri Lanka before can attest that the tourist resorts are completely unaffected by the ethnic conflict in the North and East of the island. There have been some incidents in Colombo the commercial capital which most tourists only pass through on their way from the airport to the beach resorts. These incidents have to be seen in perspective compared to incidents in other popular tourist destinations including Spain where tourists have been the deliberate declared target of terrorist groups. No foreign tourist has been injured as a result of the terrorist incident at the airport in July 2001 and in our considered view Sri Lanka is entirely safe for foreign tourists – whether travelling to Sri Lanka as part of a package tour of as Free & Independent travellers.

The visitors of most nationalities, including the countries of the European Community, USA and Australia do not require a visa to enter Sri Lanka on holiday. A FREE 30 day visa is stamped onto your passport on arrival at the airport.

Sri Lanka boasts modern health facilities. Doctors, many trained abroad, are on call at the resorts and modern medical facilities are available nearby. As Sri Lanka is located in the tropics you should also start on a course of anti malarial tablets before arriving here and continue these for a short time after your return home. Please contact your doctor for further advice.

There are modern exchange facilities both at the international airport and at the resorts. Please keep your receipt for all cash and travellers cheques changed to rupees. On departure at the international airport, you will then be able to reconvert your unused rupees back into foreign currency.