For the New Year holidays, Sri Lanka has opened for a "dosed" Russian tourist flow. The country's two international airports, Bandaranaike Airport (BIA) in Katunayaka and Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) in Mattala, are partially opened from December 29 to January 16 to host Russian tourists.
This information was announced by the former ambassador of Sri Lanka to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga. According to him, the pilot project, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, plans to attract about 6 000 tourists from Russia, as well as from Kazakhstan and Ukraine to the country during this time. At the same time, tourists will have to comply with health care rules in Sri Lanka, first of all, partial quarantine.
Thus, sixteen hotels in Beruwala, Koggala, Bentota, Akhungalla and Kalutara were selected for accommodation of Russian tourists. Tourists arrive at these hotels from the airport after a mandatory second PCR test before check-in. They must pass the first test in Russia. As the Sri Lankan side emphasizes, all "quarantine" hotels have their own beaches. However, the beaches and roads leading to the hotels will be isolated to keep the locals out of contact with tourists. As for the staff, they will stay in hotels for 21 days without the right to leave.
“Tourists will arrive by charter flights. Each tourist is expected to spend about $ 1 500,” added Mr. Weeratunga. According to him, this program is a pilot project for one month. All flights will be charter ones.
A week ago, Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights) reported that of the 16 countries, with which Russia officially resumed direct regular flights (Turkey, Great Britain, Tanzania, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the Maldives, Egypt, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Serbia, Cuba, Japan, Seychelles and Ethiopia), only three countries fully meet all the criteria of "coronavirus security" - these are Seychelles, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
