Colombo, Oct 16 (IANS): The Sri Lankan government has announced that it has decided to restart the on-arrival Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) service at its airports for fully vaccinated international travellers.

In a statement on Friday, Immigration and Emigration Department Controller General Sarath Rupasiri said the issuance of on-arrival ETA would facilitate tourists who were unable to obtain an online ETA due to time constraints in arranging their journey to Sri Lanka, reports Xinhua news agency.

Rupasiri said the facility would be available at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota.

However, despite the facility, the controller general advised travel operators to encourage incoming tourists to obtain the online ETA prior to their arrival in the country to avoid unnecessary delays at the airport.

Sri Lanka saw the highest tourist arrivals growth in September with 13,547 arrivals while the country recorded 37,000 visitors from January to September.