Travel firm TUI has cancelled more flights and holidays to Sri Lanka amid the country's ongoing political and economic instability. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has advised against all but essential travel to the South Asian country due to the political unrest of the past three months.
In a statement, a TUI spokesperson said: "Due to the ongoing political and economic instability in Sri Lanka, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) have advised against all but essential travel. As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel all holidays to Sri Lanka departing up to and including 31 August 2022.
"We will be proactively contacting all impacted customers in departure date order to discuss their options. Please note this advice does not apply to customers transiting through Sri Lanka’s international airport. We will continue to monitor the situation and update customers should there be any further updates. We would like to thank our customers for their understanding at this time."
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The travel agency previously cancelled all flights until August 15. Sri Lanka is struggling with its most severe economic crisis in seven decades, as inflation has risen to more than 50 per cent.
A state of emergency was declared and a curfew imposed after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, following months of mass protests. Before stepping down, he made Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acting president.
On July 13, his office was stormed by hundreds of protesters calling for his resignation, leading him to tell the country's military to do "whatever is necessary to restore order."
People in the island nation have been suffering with months of daily power cuts and shortages of food, medicines and fuel. Reports say the country does not have enough fuel for essential services including public transport, which has caused prices to surge.
Schools have been forced to close and people asked to work from home in an effort to conserve supplies. The country also has insufficient money to buy supplies from other countries and owes more than £39 billion to foreign lenders.
The G7 – made up of the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan – has said it supports Sri Lanka’s attempts to lower its debt payments. The World Bank is to lend $600 million to the country, while India has offered at least $1.9 billion.
The Sri Lankan government blamed the crisis on a drop in tourism - one of the country's biggest earners - caused by the Covid pandemic and a series of bomb attacks in 2019.
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