New category of visa to promote digital tourism

The Government is focusing on introducing a long-term visa category to promote Sri Lanka as a digital tourist destination, the Tourism Ministry said.

Accordingly a new visa category will be introduced for this sector which is developing worldwide.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has presented a Cabinet Memorandum on the introduction of this visa category and the granting of tax concessions to promote Sri Lanka as a digital tourist destination.

Due to the Covid situation, the digital tourism industry is emerging as a new tourism sector in the world and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, under the Ministry of Tourism, has proposed to attract digital tourists to Sri Lanka.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga says that Sri Lanka also hopes to promote digital tourism as a new way to contribute to the national economy by boosting the current crisis-ridden tourism industry and earning more foreign exchange.

Digital travelers are people who live their lives using digital technology for their livelihood and they often have a high level of financial stability, self-confidence and discipline.

These digital travelers stay inland for months, years, etc., thus generating a high amount of foreign exchange circulating in the country.

Many tourist attractions around the world have taken steps to promote the digital tourism industry, while Thailand-Chiang Mai, tourist attractions in Portugal, Lisbon, Colombia, Madeleine and Indonesia are currently popular destinations for digital tourists.

Digital tourist attraction can be introduced as one of the major promotional initiatives that can be implemented in line with health regulation in the face of the pandemic.