Air bubble facility to boost India-Sri Lanka travel, tourism

India has formed an air bubble with Sri Lanka, opening yet another overseas tourist destination for those itching to travel after a year of being at home, Times of India reported.

Till now only a few places were open for overseas tourists — including Indians — namely Maldives, UAE, Seychelles and Russia.

“India has finalized an air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka, making it the sixth such arrangement in SAARC region and 28th in total. All eligible passengers will be able to travel between the two countries in the near future,” the aviation ministry tweeted on Saturday.

Sri Lanka reopening will be a serious competition for Maldives in terms of cost for Indian tourists.

India emerged as the single largest inbound tourist source market for Maldives during the pandemic, the report said.

Relatively distant Seychelles is more expensive due to costlier air tickets.

Indians may soon find yet another favorite neighboring foreign destination — Thailand — reopening for them if they have got the COVID-19 jabs.

Thai Tourism has told TOI that its government is in talks with India for creating an air bubble so that flights can resume between the two countries.

Meanwhile, from this month Thailand has started reopening in phases for vaccinated international arrivals by reducing the quarantine period to a week in its six major tourist provinces including Phuket, Krabi and Pattaya.