A government proposal to enact a blanket ban on e-cigarettes and vaping devices has drawn pushback from Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, with operators warning the prohibition could discourage European and UK travellers — markets where vaping has overtaken traditional smoking.
In the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka’s second-largest tourism source market with 212,277 arrivals last year, e-cigarette users have for the first time outnumbered traditional cigarette smokers. There are now about 5.4 million UK vapers (10% of adults) compared with 4.9 million smokers (9.1%), according to figures cited by Daily FT. Across Europe overall, 4.6% of adults use e-cigarettes; the continent supplied 1.15 million arrivals last year and remains Sri Lanka’s largest source region. Globally there are around 129 million vape users.
The pushback comes against a softening tourism backdrop. Sri Lanka recorded a 15% increase in arrivals in 2025 to 2.36 million, but April 2026 arrivals fell to 135,643 — down 22% year-on-year — as the US-Iran conflict and broader Middle East disruptions weighed on long-haul travel. Year-to-date arrivals through April stand at about 0.8 million, well short of SLTDA’s published projections.
The proposed ban is part of a wider effort to create what the government calls a “tobacco-free generation.” National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Chairman Dr. Ananda Ratnayake confirmed that legal recommendations have been tabled with Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa to close gaps in existing legislation. The amendments would eliminate the use of all types of e-cigarettes and vaping devices on top of laws that already prohibit their sale, import and manufacture.
Sri Lanka already bars the smoking of traditional cigarettes in public places. The tourism industry’s argument is essentially one of accommodation: foreign visitors who routinely vape in their home markets risk being criminalised under a strict reading of the new framework. Health authorities counter that the policy is consistent with the tobacco-free generation alpha 2010 framework the government has pursued since 2024.
