Travel advisories on Sri Lanka remain neutral

Several countries have updated their travel advisories indicating to their citizens about the current situation in Kandy. However, no travel advisories have increased their alert levels so far.

The British authorities have stated that on March 7 the government had imposed an “indefinite” police curfew in Kandy due to reports of violent incidents. They also indicated that social media platforms were blocked nationwide and that the curfew will continued while the state of emergency is also in place.
However, it was noted that this does not impose restrictions on tourist activities, “we are aware of some reports of tourists being caught up in movement restrictions.”
In this respect, they requested their nationals to “exercise caution, avoid protests and rallies and comply with local security requirements.”
The US travel advisory level 1 to “Exercise normal precautions” continues since it was updated on January 10 this year but a security alert by the US Embassy in Colombo had stated the current situation and expected “further incidents” over the next few days.
US authorities have advised their travelers to exercise caution if unexpectedly in the vicinity of large gatherings or protests and to continue to monitor local media for updates in addition to maintaining a low profile.
Even Australia had informed its citizens to continue to exercise common sense and look out for suspicious behavour as they would in Australia and overall the travel alert level remained at green to “exercise normal safety precautions.”
They had also updated their alert on the current situation in the country adding that “access to social messaging networks may be restricted.”
The recent incidents in Kandy have sparked off concern from a number of states expressing the hope that the state of emergency would be lifted soon. (SD)