News
Tourism sector seethes as visa fiasco comes to a boil
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
Since last month, Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has been fighting a three-pronged battle with the government: the outsourcing of visas to private companies that has resulted in visa fees soaring; the scrapping of an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system that had worked “just fine;” and the mysterious disappearance of the 30-day—most convenient and cheapest—visa category for tourists.
This week, all three issues were thrust to the surface owing to a fracas at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) where an incoming traveller was filmed shouting that “Indians” were manning Sri Lanka’s immigration counters and had refused his foreign wife a visa. This wasn’t strictly correct, subsequent inquiries showed.
The chaotic scene that ensued at the BIA on May 1 after a group of travellers protested over the change in the visa system. Pic by T.K.G.Kapila
The people he referred to were employees of a joint venture between GBS Technology Services & IVS Global-FZCO and VFS VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd that the Public Security Ministry authorised last month to accept and handle electronic and on-arrival visa documents. The deal has caused tourist visa fees to skyrocket to over US$ 100 per 180-day visa.
What happened to the
30-day visa?
Worse still, the 30-day visa—the most practical and popular category among tourists—is no longer on offer online. This means that even visitors wanting to stay for under a month have to pay US$ 75 for a minimum three-month entry permit. And US$ 18.5 and US$ 5 are additionally charged as “service” and “convenience” fees, purportedly into the outsourced companies’ coffers.
The exorbitant fees directly contravene the Public Security Ministry’s own gazette issued in November last year which not only allowed for free visas to seven countries—China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia and Thailand—but also slashed the previous 30-day online visa fee for all non-SAARC countries from US$ 50 to US$ 35.
According to changes announced by the Immigration Department effective April 17, however, the short-term visa is gone. The significantly more expensive three-month visa is available along with additional fees that the Public Security Ministry had agreed to with these private parties.
Neither the gazette nor the Immigration Department’s notice containing visa categories and their corresponding fees mentioned any agreement with private companies or publicised their service charges.
Ministry Secretary Viyani Gunatilleke maintained that the new system will continue after “technical issues” are fixed. Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Priantha Fernando said they are demanding the 30-day single-entry visa to be brought back and are confident it will be reintroduced on May 7. With the additional fees, he expects it to cost around US$ 80 (US$ 50 plus service and convenience charges).
The tourism sector is seething at the new system. They say they were not consulted and that bookings have been thrown into disarray. Tourism Minister Harin Fernando has washed his hands off it, asking journalists at a hurriedly convened press conference on Friday to “ask the Immigration Minister”.
Responding to questions in Parliament on April 26, he said he supported free visas but that VFS had a presence in 64 countries and that its network could be used to promote Sri Lanka.
Serious losses
“The visa fiasco has caused our clients serious losses,” said Mutiara Tegal, director of a family-owned travel business from the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. “Some who applied on the ETA a day before the system was suspended were compelled to re-apply and repay on the new system as they had not received approval from ETA on the first application.”
“Some clients due to arrive in August who had paid for their visa received notice that their visa was only valid for 30 days from the date of application,” she continued. “This will force them to pay 100 USD twice to obtain a valid visa for travel.”
Like others we interviewed, she said these issues could’ve been avoided if there had been some consultation and if the new system was beta-tested and rolled out to tourists in a way that did not cause inconvenience or entail “unreasonable charges”.
“The new visa structure by VFS has put our future bookings at risk,” she also said. “A group of 36 students from Europe is severely affected by having to pay US$ 100 as opposed to the US$ 50 that they had budgeted for their visit. This damages not only our SME business but also impacts negatively on all those who work with us, the guides, drivers and suppliers as well.”
Why the rush?
Tourism authorities indicate that they were hoodwinked by the Public Security Ministry and Immigration. Officials said the deal with VFS had been finalised before an “Evaluation Committee” appointed by Cabinet (headed by Chandima Wickremesinghe, Additional Secretary at the Presidential Secretariat) to examine their proposal submitted its report.
According to a Cabinet decision on November 11, “it was decided to appoint an Evaluation Committee to evaluate the proposal submitted by GBS Technology Services & IVS Global – FZCO and VFS VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd., to act as an authorized representative for the online submission of visa applications for foreigners who visit Sri Lanka.”
The decision, which is published online, elaborated that, “Cabinet approved the proposal made by the Minister of Public Security to pursue action as per the recommendations of the Report submitted by the Evaluation Committee appointed accordingly and to sign the relevant Agreement drafted as per the observations submitted by the Attorney General”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Tourism Ministry both support a visa-free regime for tourists, he added. Therefore, it had also been agreed that the MFA and SLTDA will “do a proper study and come up with a paper justifying our position”.
“But the changes were introduced even as the Committee was considering the proposal,” the senior official said.
The rollout of the system has been incompetent with troubleshooting being done as and when problems crop up. There was no pilot project. “Tourists are deterred by the high cost and the problems with the system,” Ms. Tegal said. “There also seem to be issues at the airport with long queues and confusion. All this is very detrimental to the industry.”
“The new system requires applicants to upload their passport copies and photos,” said Prebudda Jayasinghe, Vice President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism (ASMET). “It’s not multilingual like the previous ETA system was. It does not accept AMEX cards. And they don’t have a hotline for inquiries.”
While those who backed the deal might put these down to teething issues, other tourism industry sources pointed out that the numbers too don’t add up.
“To apply for Sri Lanka, all you need as a tourist is a valid passport,” one said. “No other documents are checked—not financial, not travel plans, etc. They don’t need to courier things up and down. So why these towering processing fees?”
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