Would you travel to Sri Lanka now?

Ayubowan and welcome to Sri Lanka, ranked top country for travel in 2019 by Lonely Planet …

Certainly, my family enjoyed the “unmissable experiences” including a wildlife safari, trekking in the Hill Country’s tea plantations, and sitting on the ramparts of the Old Galle Fort watching England v Sri Lanka cricket.

You can read all about it here at: Surprising Sri Lanka – Howzat?

Table of Contents

The route:

Negombo (Jetwing Lagoon Hotel 1 night) —> Colombo (Colombo Swimming Club 2 Nights) —> Galle (Air BnB 2 nights) —> Nuwara Eliya (Jetwing St Andrews 2 Nights) —> Kandy (Air BnB 1 night —> Negombo (Jetwing Lagoon 1 night)

SRI LANKA BOMBINGS:

How tragic are the recent events in Sri Lanka? My heart goes out to all those affected by the recent despicable acts.

Sri Lanka was tipped for the best tourism year ever. Yet on Easter Sunday Bombs ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka killing over 250 people, including at least 40 tourists from countries including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia and India.

Targets included the upmarket Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury hotels in the capital, Colombo.

This could have so been many of our friends and it was only six months since my family were there.

WHAT’s NEXT FOR TOURISM?

There is no doubt that Sri Lanka is dealing with the double tragedy. The heavy loss of human life, and also the likelihood of serious damage to Sri Lanka’s economy, which depends on tourism.

Would you go to Sri Lanka now?

British Foreign & Commonwealth Office:

Advise against all but essential travel at the moment. Our Bangkok home is filling up with Brits who have taken this advice and decided to leave Sri Lanka in favour of a trip to Thailand until things settle.

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT:

Australian Smart Traveller advice is not quite as strong. Aussie’s are being told to: ‘Think seriously about whether you need to travel here due to the high level of risk. If you do travel, do your research and take a range of extra safety precautions, including having contingency plans. Check that your travel insurer will cover you’.

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE:

‘The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S.citizens in Sri Lanka due to the security environment. Read the Safety and Security section on the country information page. … U.S. citizens who travel abroad should always have a contingency plan for emergency situations.’

GovernMent of Canada:

Avoid non-essential travel to Sri Lanka due to the security situation.

The Impact of the bombings on tourism:

Channel News Asia is reporting that tourism to drop by 50% since the bombings in the next two months. Sri Lanka was hoping to reach 2 million visitors, this equates to a $750m loss.

WOULD you go to Sri Lanka, iF YOU HAD a holiday booked?

Thank you for joining me today part of the Blogging from A-Z challenge

Wren’s Worldwide Wanderings:

S is for Sri Lanka

Linking with thanks to Wandering Camera and all the hosts at Our World Tuesday

A man holds up a blood-stained photograph as people wait to identify the bodies of their loved ones in front of St. Anthony's Church.

Relatives of a victim of the attacks react at the police mortuary in Colombo.

Sri Lankan hospital workers and soldiers stand at the door to a morgue following a blast in a church in Batticaloa.

A Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter flies over a house suspected to be a hideout of militants following a shootout in Colombo.

A view of damage near the Dehiwala zoo in Colombo.

Relatives of bombing victims gather at a mortuary in Colombo.

Colombo's Kingsbury Hotel was targeted by a blast.

Relatives of a blast victim grieve outside a morgue in Colombo.

Sri Lankan Special Task Force personnel gesture outside a house during a raid following an explosion at a property in the Orugodawatta district of Colombo.

The interior of St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, north of Colombo, shows damage from a bomb blast.

Sri Lankan military members stand guard outside St. Anthony's Church following an explosion.

Crime scene investigators inspect the scene of an explosion at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.

Sri Lankan police officers clear the road as an ambulance drives through carrying injured from bomb blasts in Colombo.

A bombing victim's relative weeps outside a hospital in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka.

Priests view blast debris outside St. Anthony's Shrine.

Sri Lankan security personnel keep watch outside St. Anthony's Shrine.

Security forces inspect the inside of St. Anthony's Shrine after Sunday's attack.

Sri Lankan military officers stand guard in front of St. Anthony's Shrine.

A relative of a victim of an explosion at St. Anthony's Shrine reacts outside the police mortuary in Colombo.

A woman who lost her husband and two children during the bombing at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo yells toward the grave site during a mass burial on Wednesday.

Military personnel talk with a police officer near the site where a package, believed to be a bomb, was detonated in a controlled explosion after being discovered in a nearby restaurant in Negombo on Wednesday, April 24.

Members of a security task force search for explosives ahead of victims' mass burials in Negombo on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, April 23, Harshani Sriyani weeps over the body of her daughter who was killed in the Easter Sunday bombings in Colombo.

Funeral ribbons hang across a road leading to St. Anthony's Shrine on April 23.

A man is supported as he follows a coffin during a mass funeral for bombing victims at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday, April 23.

A soldier stands guard next to members of the clergy during a mass funeral in Negombo on Tuesday.

Coffins are carried to a grave during the mass funeral at St. Sebastian Church on April 23.

A woman carrying an infant runs for safety after police found a suspicious vehicle parked in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Monday, April 22, a day after several coordinated bombings across the country killed hundreds.

Sri Lankan security forces stand at the site near St. Anthony's shrine in Colombo after they performed a controlled detonation of a suspicious van on Monday.

Smoke rises from the area where a van exploded on Monday near St. Anthony's shrine in Colombo.

Security personnel stand guard outside St. Anthony's Shrine on Monday, a day after the church was hit in a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka.

Relatives weep near the coffin of 12-year-old victim Sneha Savindi, who was killed in the Easter Sunday bombing at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka.

Police and forensics officials inspect the interior of St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo on Monday.

Shoes and belongings of victims are collected as evidence at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo on April 22.

A man mourns after viewing the body of a dead relative killed in the bomb explosion at St. Anthony's Church in Colombo on Sunday, April 21.

Blood stains are seen on a statue of Jesus Christ after a bomb blast inside a church in Negombo, on Sunday.

A woman is in tears after a deadly bomb blast at St. Anthony's Shrine in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, on Sunday.

Security personnel and investigators sift through debris outside Zion Church in Batticaloa.