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Tourism Board Travel: Sri Lanka Is Safe, Minus The Terrorism

Where: Sri Lanka
September 21, 2007 at 10:15 AM | by | Comments (2)

Securite Sans Frontieres, a French firm that analyzes national security in foreign countries, has green-lighted Sri Lanka as a tourist destination for foreigners. After evaluating tourism sites, hotel infrastructures, airports and other security issues over a period of 12 days, the agency gave the go-ahead. SSF Frederic Bauer president had this to say:

"The terrorist risk is not that greater in Sri Lanka than other countries visited by the French. In conclusion, the security situation for us is acceptable for tourism visits to Sri Lanka and I take responsibility for recommending the destination for French Tourists."

Does that mean non-French tourists still need to watch out? The Sri Lanka Tourism Board hired the private firm to conduct a security audit in attempt to lure back visitors. After peace talks in February 2006 led nowhere, the travel industry has attempted to counter an endless stream of stories about terrorism with reasons to visit the beautiful island country.

Since France gave the go-ahead, agencies in The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom have all told their citizens it's OK to visit Sri Lanka. And they're just in time: The World Tourism Organization selected Sri Lanka as the host country for this year's World Tourism Day, on Setember 27. This year's theme is "Tourism opens doors for women." Also, a new travel campaign titled "Men don't get it" will be revealed on this occasion. Seriously. We're not sure what that has to do with travel, but we like the sound of it.

Related Stories:
· Sri Lanka Tourism Board [Official Site]
· Sri Lanka Hotels [HotelChatter]

[Photo: remibenali]

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Return to » Tourism Board Travel: Sri Lanka Is Safe, Minus The Terrorism


SRI LANKA SECURITY

WHAT IS THE US STATE DEPARTMENT ADVISING ITS CITIZENS ABOUT TRAVEL TO SRI LANKA? AKS
sikand1950 on September 21, 2007 at 1:43 PM #Permalink

The State Dept. has mixed feelings...

According to the latest advisory (dated April 2007) the country as a whole is safe. The State Department does warn against travel to the north and east of the country. But that shouldn't surprise anyone.

The US government has designated the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group. (They certainly behave like one.) Since these types of warnings serve a political as well as informational purpose, we'd expect a warning like this. As with any travel-related info from the government, take this with a heaping serving of salt.
pbb on September 21, 2007 at 2:09 PM #Permalink
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