Is Sri Lanka Safe to Travel in 2025?
In October 2024, the news was Arugam Bay Israeli-based Terrorist-plans
What really happened Sri lanka?
The US Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka publishes a security alert:
On the 23 October 2024, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka published a urgent security alert saying, “avoid travel to Arugam Bay due to credible threat”. This came in as a newsflash, with no prior news about this situation or the story build up.
Sri Lanka, having a really bad experience with the Easter Attack of 2019, got a lot of negative feedback from almost all the Main Travel Advisories following this. But is it Safe to Travel to Sri Lanka now? Let’s find out.
The Embassy received credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area. Due to the serious risk posed by this threat, the Embassy imposed a travel restriction on Embassy personnel for Arugam Bay effective immediately and until further notice.
We immediately checked with our partner hotels in Arugam Bay to get updates on the situation. They shared the information that security in Arugam Bay has been already tight for more than a week (before 23 October 2024) due to some growing tensions between the Israeli and some of the Muslim community in the area.
Apparently over 400 military personnel had been station in Arugam Bay even before the security alert was released. However, to avoid extra attention with a mega-scale terrorist attack, this had been not released to mainstream news or media. And the explanation came that since the actual threat was not neutralized, the Intelligence Services wanted to keep things wrapped up. However, the security had been already tight, the area secure with regular checks and security on alert.
UK, Australia Travel Advisories
Following the security alert from the US Embassy, the UK and Australian governments immediately put updates about Sri Lanka travel. In fact, one mistake from the UK Travel Advisory was, they even missed on changing the US Nationals (from the US Embassy website info), to UK Nationals as everyone was panicking over the initial alert only.
Then the International Media was quick to Publish the Posts about Arugam Bay in Sri Lanka
Based on the immediate Travel Advisories and Travel Caution to the travellers, Sri Lanka received some negative comments from the foreign media and some governments. Some pretty much insisted all their citizens leave Sri Lanka immediately for their safety.
- The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/23/israelis-told-to-urgently-leave-sri-lankan-tourist-areas-arugam-bay-after-terrorist-threat
- Canada Government: https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/sri-lanka
- CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/23/politics/us-israel-warn-potential-attack-sri-lanka/index.html
Similarly, many news publications, online media, governments issued updates for tourists to be extra cautious, some to leave the country immediately.
What really happened in Arugam Bay?
That’s the elephant in the room, right? There were a few theories behind this. Since it involves on-going investigations, we (public) are not told the entire story. However, we can safely assume that this mainly involves the Israeli-tourists who stayed in Arugam Bay during the Summer season.
- There are several over-staying, visa-expired Israeli who stay in Arugam Bay and in Sri Lanka and have been buying properties, operating illegal restaurants, bars, hostels, not adhering to Sri Lanka’s rules and regulations. There had been tensions between the locals of the Arugam Bay area because some of these Israeli-tourists had made some attempts to quarrel with the Muslims in the area.
- The on-going tension in the Middle East has been a key factor. Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country with Sinhalese, Tamils, and even Muslims in the country. The East Coast particularly has a higher population of Muslims and the war in the Middle East between the Israeli and the Muslims have been making headlines even in Sri Lanka.
- The arrests of the 2 terrorist-linked personnel from Sri Lanka. A Muslim, and a Tamil (ex-LTTE) have been arrested linked to the planned security threat in Arugam Bay. It’s disclosed that they were linked to ISIS or the Middle-East funded plans to attack the Israeli-visiting Sri Lanka, over the wars in Middle East.
We are not sure of the main culprits or the exact plan as the Security Forces and the Intelligence units are still carrying on with the operations in the area. However, the tensions in the Middle East with the war against Israel and the terrorist attacks is playing a major role with this threat as well.
Is there a Travel Ban to Sri Lanka?
Based on statement/news update from the US Embassy, many came to a conclusion that there is a Travel Ban on Sri Lanka. However, the US ambassador for Sri Lanka. Julie Chung clarified that Sri Lanka remains as a safe destination on Level 02, similar to the countries like France, Italy, the Maldives. She emphasized that the threat was for Arugam Bay only, and commented that the security and the intelligence teams have acted on the situation very well and that she’s officially happy with how the situation was handed.
She encouraged people to travel to Sri Lanka just as before, clearing out any doubts if they are is a travel ban against Sri Lanka.
Read the news: https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=102981
There is no travel ban on Sri Lanka. Our security alert last week is for Americans to avoid Arugam Bay until further notice. But our overall travel advisory for Sri Lanka remains exactly the same at ‘Level 2’, which has been so for many years. We know that continued safety and stability are essential for a thriving tourism sector which we support absolutely. So, we are fully committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s efforts to create that secure welcoming environment for all,
Is Sri Lanka safe to travel in 2025?
Absolutely! We are a Sri Lankan DMC – operating and from Colombo, Sri Lanka. And we are confident of the security forces to take the necessary security measures to avoid any terrorist or harmful situation to both locals or foreign.
One proof of the positive security and already-in place measures is the testimonials from the travellers who are here already in Sri Lanka. Even in Arugam Bay, the tourists have not yet left the country or the area. There are thousands of tourists in Sri Lanka enjoying and visiting the country.
Security measures are common all over the world. Airports, Hotels, Towns, Buildings – any place can have a security alert over a harmful act caused by some ill-minded set of people. But, with the proper security measures in place, these get resolved very quickly promoting the “normal” back soon.
Here's an Explanation on the full situation:
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