Tika Traveller

Discover Sri Lanka & Maldives From Those Who Know It Best

Blogs from Tikalanka are designed to enhance your knowledge of Sri Lanka and Maldives and keep you up to date with recent developments. We intend to post regular features on travel, news, lifestyle and accommodation as well as guest articles from current and past customers, which will give you first-hand experience of Tikalanka, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Category: News

TikaWeeks #31/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 31st July 2019

Today was the official launch of the Visa Fee Exemption programme to Sri Lanka for 48 countries, including the UK, most of Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA. As from tomorrow, the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) fee will be waived for six months as another incentive to visit Sri Lanka. Please apply for an ETA in the usual way through the official ETA portal and you will not be charged for a visa if your return date is on or before 31 January 2020.

Waving locals from the back of a truck, East Coast, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #29-2/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 20th July 2019

Travelling to Sri Lanka since the tragic events three months ago should not be all about benefiting from discounts and deserted sites and beaches but how your money contributes directly to the Sri Lankans badly affected by the dramatic drop in tourism. As highlighted in The Guardian yesterday, the greatest benefit to travellers going now is the knowledge that their trip will have a direct and significant impact on local lives.

A plethora of Sri Lanka's wonderful fruit and vegetables in Kandy market

TikaWeeks #26/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 30th June 2019

Until there are zero emissions aircraft we will need to find other strategies to compensate for travelling long-haul… and there are many approaches on offer. Lifestyle adjustments are the obvious and definitive way of reducing your carbon footprint, and to encourage family and friends to follow suit, as well as lobbying parliament and challenging the tourist industry for change. Let’s all make this our mission in life for the sake of our planet!

Sunset over Ella, Hill Country, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #25-2/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 21st June 2019

A present day conundrum is how to travel to far-flung places yet endeavour to be sustainable. With air travel emitting 80% of tourism’s greenhouse gasses, is it responsible to visit long-haul destinations like Sri Lanka and Maldives? What would happen to Sri Lanka if foreign tourism was reduced dramatically when tourism generates over 25% of foreign income? This week’s feature discusses possible ways of ameliorating your carbon footprint when travelling to Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Buddha in samadhi, Gal Vihara, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #24/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 16th June 2019

The Poson Festival celebrates the arrival of Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC and it is held over the full moon in June (17 June this year). Poson Poya Day is one of the most important religious events of the year, particularly at pilgrimage sites such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Thanthirimale where devotees flock to offer prayers and alms to the Buddha. I am sure that this year’s Poson will hold more significance and be a more poignant occasion than ever.

TikaWeeks #23-3/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 6th June 2019

BREAKING NEWS – The FCO travel advice has just been updated to: “change to advice against travel; the FCO no longer advise against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka”. This means that UK citizens are allowed to travel to Sri Lanka once again. If you haven’t already booked your summer holiday, please contact us as soon as possible for a holiday of a lifetime in Sri Lanka. The country and its people will welcome you with open arms and there are special discounts on offer at many hotels. So, what’s stopping you?

View through Ella Gap in the southern Hill Country, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #23-2/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 5th June 2019

On World Environment Day,Tikalanka pledges a commitment to tackle tourism’s detrimental effect on climate change and will draw inspiration from Responsible Travel’s newly launched manifesto for change in the tourism industry, The Fork in the Road. Like us, they are concerned about its future and convinced that it can be fixed, but we need to take action now – business, as usual, is not good enough.

TikaWeeks #23-1/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 3rd June 2019

The relaxing of travel restrictions to Sri Lanka from European countries continues with the Netherlands. We again hope that the UK won’t be far behind. On another positive note, Sri Lanka has introduced an Environment Commemoration Week this year to celebrate World Environment Day on 05 June with various programmes aimed at addressing the principal environmental issues faced by the island nation.

TikaWeeks #22/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 31st May 2019

In a positive move for Sri Lanka, now Italy has joined India, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden in following China’s lead in relaxing the travel ban to Sri Lanka this week. We hope that the UK won’t be far behind. President Maithripala Sirisena recently briefed the international diplomatic community about the progress of security operations and said that the situation is 99% secure now. He also expressed confidence that the state of emergency could lapse within a month.

TikaWeeks #21-2/2019: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 25th May 2019

Normalcy has been restored in the daily lives of the locals and highest security measures are currently in place in the country, according to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has requested the ambassadors and high commissioners to Sri Lanka to lift the travel restrictions imposed on Sri Lanka by their respective countries. However, current official UK travel advice remains unchanged – advise against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka.

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