Visa blues
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As I woke up on Thursday morning, I was greeted by a catchy baila tune. I must confess that I am a lover of the baila…….enjoyed even more with the spirit that matters and often use baila songs in this column to add some spice to it and give it an unusual twist.This time I heard the trio playing the song – Boru…Boru — while conversing under the margosa tree. Boru is another song lampooning politicians and provides ideal fodder for the season of promises, promises and promises. Like it or not, there are many who are gullible and fall victim to these promises at election time. Boru has been crafted by the late, revered singer Sunil Perera and his brother Piyal, Rajiv Sebastian and Wilson Gunaratne. For those interested in the song, this is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8nZ7bOyVFg
So the trio was discussing this song. “Boru…..boru, lassana sinduwak, chandey kaleta sarilana (Boru… boru is a nice song. Ideal for the election period),” said Serapina. “Deshapalagnayo eka eka jathiye porundu wenawa. Api evata rewatenawa (Politicians make all kinds of promises and we fall for it),” noted Mabel Rasthiyadu. “Den egollo kiyanawa jeevana viyadama pahath karanawa, padi wedi karanawa saha apita vishrama watup denawa kiyala (Now they are saying they would bring down the cost of living, increase salaries and give us pensions),” added Mabel Rasthyadu, listening to the song.
As the presidential election date nears, there are many other issues along with elections in the country. One serious issue is the visas for tourists and the passport queues at the Immigration Office.
Tourism industry officials last week threatened to take to the streets if the visa issue was not sorted out as it has created a lot of inconvenience to visitors. To discuss this issue, I called ‘touristy’ Selva, a friend who is involved in the tourist trade.
“Hi Selva, how are you?” I asked him. “Not too good. One tourist group I was helping had a difficult time at the immigration counter at the airport to get their visas,” he said.
“I just can’t understand why this situation is not resolved quickly as it affects our earnings in foreign exchange and tourist arrival targets for this year,” I said.
“At this rate, winter season arrivals will be badly
affected,” he said.
Tourist arrivals in January-August 2024 totalled 1.36 million, up by 50 per cent from 904,318 in the same 2023 period. However, this is below targets. In terms of earnings for this period, it was US$2.16 billion, up by 66 per cent from $1.3 billion in January-August 2023.
Industry officials last week attacked the ‘all-powerful’ Sri Lankan Immigration Controller Harsha Ilukpitiya for failing to follow an order by the Cabinet which had authorised the President (under whose purview tourism comes) to immediately allow nationals of 38 countries free visa entry into the country. He was also criticised for not following a Supreme Court order earlier temporarily suspending the VFS-facilitated visa scheme in which VFS, a global visa facilitation company, received a fee of over $25 per entry and directing that the earlier online visa scheme operated by Mobitel at just a cost of $1 per entry be reintroduced. That directive was also ignored by Mr. Ilukpitiya; mind you this is a directive from the highest court of the land and non-compliance usually amounts to contempt of court.
But is Mr. Ilukpitiya at fault in both cases or is there a bigger hand, for instance Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, who is also culpable? The Minister’s diktat it seems is more powerful than the courts.
Officials should also remember that if they fail to follow directives or follow dubious ones, they are liable to be penalised if there is a new regime in power.
The Immigration head has argued that while the decision by the court takes longer to implement as the earlier online visa platform was dismantled when the VFS scheme was introduced, the free visa scheme for 38 countries requires a gazette notification that must be approved by Parliament and the next sitting of Parliament is in October.
However, the Controller could have easily done the paperwork during the last session of Parliament, industry officials argue. On the flipside, the Cabinet in ordering an immediate implementation of the free visa scheme was also inept – expecting to implement the decision in the coming days, not realising that there was a protocol regarding parliamentary approval for such a decision.
It is not only the visa issue – where tourists have to spend more than two hours at the airport immigration counters and are moved from one counter to another to pay the visa fee of $50 (as the free visa scheme is still not in operation) – that is affecting the country’s economy. The shortage of passports is also affecting business, with various excuses given by officials. Long and winding queues have surfaced at the passport office.
The National Chamber of Exporters said this week that the passport issue has affected exporters who may require a new passport on the expiration of their passports. This issue and the visa issue affecting tourists are adversely affecting the credibility of Sri Lanka on a global scale, the chamber said.
Meanwhile, the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) has urged the government to immediately resolve the ongoing challenges related to the issuance of short term business visas, which have been halted since August 2. It said all official foreign business visitors, including buyers, machinery suppliers and technical service providers, have faced significant hurdles entering Sri Lanka due to the lack of a proper business visa issuance system. While tourist visas are available on arrival, there is currently no facility to issue business visas through this channel.
Foreigners arriving for short term business visits are not eligible for tourist visas, leaving a critical gap in the country’s ability to accommodate overseas business visitors, JAAF said.
At a media briefing called by the tourism industry last week to highlight the visa issue, Jetwing Chairman and veteran hotelier Hiran Cooray had said, “This is sabotage.”
So there we are, another week has ended with more problems surfacing for Sri Lanka. The visa issue will continue in the coming weeks further embarrassing the trade with the prospect of turning away many tourists who would opt to visit other destinations instead of facing the visa hassle here.
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