BIA, Mattala to be opened in January for tourists

By Editor On Dec 7, 2020

The Government will open the Bandaranaike International Airport and the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport (Mattala) within January, two Ministers told the Daily News Finance yesterday.

Both Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga and State Minister of Aviation D.V. Chanaka said that the date(s) of the opening of both airports for tourist arrivals will be announced on January 1.

This is also a sequel to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announcing in his keynote address at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit last week that he would like the tourism authorities to consult the health authorities and to open up the two international airports to invite tourist traffic at the earliest as Sri Lanka was heavily dependent on the foreign exchange earnings from the leisure industry. He also implored the state officials to get high spending tourists.

There were a series of meetings between the health authorities and the tourism sector officials last week about the guidelines which should be used at opening the airports, taking into consideration the health aspects of the tourism industry, with a special emphasis on Covid 19 as well, State Minister D.V. Chanaka said.

He also said that the guidelines formulated by the Government included that the minimum stay for visiting foreigners was two weeks.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga also explained to this newspaper that the Government extensively studied models which were used in other countries such as Maldives, Singapore and Thailand along with some others before the opening of the Sri Lankan airports.

He also said in a news release that the Government was upbeat about getting British and European tourists, once the vaccination process was over. These matters were discussed at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee as well last week.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri said that they were ready to open the two airports as soon as the Government announced the dates for the opening, claiming that there were very little arrangements left to be done to accomplish that goal.

He also that the duty-free shops at the BIA were opened and were bustling with activity even at this stage where around 300 Sri Lankan expatriates arrived at the BIA on Thursday in flights from England, Malaysia and Milan in Italy in repatriation flights

Meanwhile, Minister of Wild Life C.B. Ratnayake told Daily News Finance that a decision will be taken today as to when the wildlife parks would be reopened for tourists, both foreign and locals after they were closed down due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

BIA Mattala