French travel advisory relaxed
The French Government relaxed the travel advisory to Sri Lanka on October 2, allowing French tour operators and travel agents to resume selling travel packages to Sri Lanka with immediate effect.

This is seen as a very welcome move and positive step in opening Sri Lanka to tourists from France, particularly since the travel advisory map had earlier demarcated the areas in red and in orange which created confusion among many agents. The colour has now been changed to green, allowing agents to sell Sri Lanka as they would any other destination.

This positive change is due to numerous and continuous efforts made by Sri Lanka Tourism and the industry to change the status of the advisory and eventually ensure that it would be totally relaxed. A team from Sri Lanka Tourism led by the Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda participated in an impressive promotional effort which was held in France on September 11, when the results of an independent security audit was released.

Subsequent to this report, the Tour Operations Association in France immediately decided to open the destination. Managing Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Dileep Mudadeniya, said: This is exactly what Sri Lanka Tourism requires at this moment, coming as it does at a time when a number of promotional activities are being organised to position Sri Lanka as a favoured destination.”