Visa 
Visas are not required by bona fide tourists who are nationals of 38 countries. Business visitors generally need to obtain a visa before arrival. Travel regulations are liable to change at short notice, and enquiries should be made before departure. Travel to areas in the north and east may be difficult.

Currency 
Foreign currency must be declared on arrival and may be exchanged only at banks or authorised dealers. Visitors should have money for the number of days they intend to stay, at the rate of US$ 15 per day. In addition, they should have a return ticket, or the money for it. Certain foreign currencies, including Indian and Pakistani, may not be exchanged, Unspent rupees may be reconverted on departure. It is advisable to retain foreign exchange, hotel and shopping receipts.

Customs 
Personal effects are allowed duty-free, but must be re-exported on departure. Importation of firearms, ammunition, explosives, dangerous weapons, drugs and pornography is strictly prohibited. Export of antiques, rare books, palm leaf manuscripts, rare anthropological material and any wild animal, bird or reptile or part thereof is restricted, if not prohibited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF LOCAL TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES

Car Hire 
Self driven and chauffeur driven car hire is available. Mini-buses and coaches are also available. National or international driving licence must be presented fro local endorsement (on weekdays only). Chauffeur-driven cars are generally recommended (and cheaper). Driving is on the left-hand side of the road.

City transport
Taxis 
Metered taxis usually have yellow tops and red numbers on a white plate. Although mini-cabs are generally accurately metered, inaccurate meters or excessive charging should be reported to the police. A 5 percent tip is usual.

National transport 
Severe internal disruption has resulted in recent years from civil unrest. It is essential to ascertain the security situation before traveling in the north, the east or the extreme south of the country. 

Air:  Upali Travel and Air Travel Ltd operate domestic services to several destinations; charter planes and helicopters are also available.

Road 
The extensive road network has 27,000 km of road, 19,000 km of which is surfaced. There are plans to repair over 400 km of road and reconstruct 24 bridges, some of which were damaged in floods and landslides in mid-1989.

Buses 
Express services, some air-conditioned, are available to all main centres, and may be booked in advance; local services are generally crowded.

Rail 
Around 1,800 km of track is in regular use. Service to Jaffna has been discontinued. Regular services link Colombo with all other main centres, with air-conditioning, dining cars and first-class accommodation available on some services.

Tourism
The tourism sector, which showed a substantial improvement in 1999, has suffered a setback since
December 1999, following the terrorist activities which took place in Colombo in November 1999 and early 2000. The arrivals continued to decline throughout the first half of 2000 recording a three per cent decline over the corresponding period last year. Following the trend in arrivals, the gross earnings from the tourist industry declined by 3 per cent to US dollar 129 million during the first half of 2000. Tourist arrivals from almost all the major regions decreased. Arrivals from Western Europe, which continued to be the major source of tourist traffic to the country, dropped by 1 per cent. Increased arrivals from the UK, the largest single source of arrivals from the Western European market, was more than offset by the decrease in arrivals from other major sources in this market such as Germany (8 per cent), France (2 per cent) and the Netherlands (23 per cent). Arrivals from Asia, the second largest market, dropped by 13 per cent mainly due to the decline in arrivals from India (24 per cent), Pakistan (9 per cent) and Japan (32 per cent).

The majority of tourists visited the country for vacation, while only 6 per cent came for business purposes. SriLankan Airlines brought in 49 per cent of the tourists during the first six months of 2000, compared with 45 per cent in the corresponding period of 1999. The addition of six new aircraft to the fleet may have contributed to this development. The introduction of two new direct flights to Australia and Sweden in November 1999 by SriLankan Airlines too helped to increase the arrivals from these two sources. The share of charter flights declined from 12 per cent in 1999 to 9 per cent in 2000. The decline in charter operations was largely due to the discontinuation of one of the major charter carriers (Air Holland from the Netherlands), subsequent to the merger with a scheduled carrier (Martin Air) in February 2000. With the decline in arrivals, foreign guest nights at tourist hotels decreased marginally, while the room occupancy rate declined to 58 per cent, compared with 62 per cent in the first six months of 1999. Room occupancy rates in all regions showed decreases with substantial declines in the South coast and ancient cities. The number of hotel units in the graded accommodations sector increased from 164 in June 1999 to 188 in June 2000 with more pronounced growth in the South coast and Greater Colombo. Consequently, the room capacity increased from 11,886 to 12,594 between the two periods. 

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
The full moon (Poya) day of each months is a public holiday.

Fixed dates: 
1 Jan, 
4 Feb (National Day), 
12 Apr (day prior to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year day),
13 Apr (Sinhala and Tamil New Tear Day), 
1 May, 
22 May (National Heroes' Day), 
30 Jun (Bank Holiday), 
25 Dec, 
31 Dec (Bank Holiday). 

Variable dates: 
In addition to the Poya (full moon). 
The Pongal Day (Jan), Maha Sivarathri Day (Mar), 
Good Friday, Eid-al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, 
Birthday of the Prophet, Deepavali Festival (Nov).