UK no longer advises against all but essential SL travel

The UK said today its Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) no longer advised British travellers and tourists against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka.

The FCO updated the travel advisory on Sri Lanka today and said terrorists were very likely to try to carry out attacks but security had been beefed up countrywide and a state of emergency remained in place.

In a statement, the British High Commission said it had kept the UK’s travel advice under constant review since the Easter Sunday attacks, engaging closely with the Sri Lankan Government, the tourism industry and the police.

“We now assess that the risk to British people in Sri Lanka has reduced enough for us to make this change. However, no foreign travel can ever be guaranteed as safe and our new travel advice reflects our assessment that terrorists are very likely to attempt to carry out further attacks in Sri Lanka,” it said.

Meanwhile, Acting High Commissioner Tom Burn said he was glad that they had been able to make this change.

“We know how difficult these weeks have been for everyone in Sri Lanka who relies on tourism for a living. Our primary concern will always be safety and our travel advice continues to warn of the threat of further attacks in Sri Lanka. But we hope the change we have made will help Sri Lanka’s recovery from the Easter Sunday attacks and to efforts to build a safe and inclusive future for everyone ,” he said.