New Zealand HC issues clarification on travel advisory

In response to the Mirror Business story published on February 4, the New Zealand High Commission in Colombo clarified that no travel advisory has been issued advising Kiwis against traveling to Sri Lanka, and New Zealand hasonly advised its citizens to exercise increased caution.

“We have two types of travel advisory that advise New Zealanders against going to a particular country or region: “do not travel” and “avoid non-essential travel”. There are well over 50 countries that currently have these sorts of New Zealand travel advisories. Sri Lanka is not one of them. Sri Lanka is in a much bigger group of countries, which include the likes of Singapore, Australia, and Japan, where we advise New Zealanders to ‘exercise increased caution’,” the High Commission said in its clarification.

It added that as a partner and friend of Sri Lanka, the New Zealand High Commission in Colombo welcomes Kiwi tourists in Sri Lanka and encourages them to read the travel advice as part of their preparation before they get here.

As per the safetravel.govt.nz website, the travel advisory page on Sri Lanka was reviewed on February 1, 2023.