Country to officially open airports; allow inbound tourists from Jan 21

By Chaturanga Samarawickrama  

The country’s airports will be officially opened for commercial passenger transportation and tourists from January 21 as per the health guidelines, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said.  

Accordingly, the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) at Katunayake and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) will be opened for commercial flights after ten months, the Minister said.  

Addressing the media he said, he would expect commercial flights to touch down at  airports and all airport formalities would return to normal by January 23.  

“Nearly three million people in the country are directly and indirectly dependent on the tourism industry and that they have become helpless due to the COVID-19 epidemic situation,” Minister Ranatunga said.  

Considering the current situation faced by them, the Government has decided to reopen all airports to boost the tourism industry, he said. 

• Government has decided to reopen all airports to boost the tourism industry
• All airport formalities would return to normal by January 23