By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 8 Jul: Its happy news for tourists and tourism stakeholders in Uttarakhand. Now, tourists coming from other states to Uttarakhand will be able to tour the state without stopping, without being quarantined, on condition of Covid-19 test reports being negative. The Char Dham Yatra, however, will currently be available only to the residents of Uttarakhand.
According to Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, “Tourists from other states are welcome to Devbhoomi Uttarakhand. Hopefully, every tourist will enter the state with a Covid-19 negative test report and enjoy the beautiful tourist places. The threat of any kind of infection in the state will be prevented and the tourism business will gain fresh momentum. People working in the tourism sector will get employment again.”
Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar added that all tourists coming from other states of the country will have to upload the report related to Covid-19 test on the portal of Smart City Dehradun at the time of registration and also while traveling in the state they must have the report with them. Tourists who have not been given the Covid-19 test will be able to enter the state on condition of a minimum seven-day hotel booking and after 7 days they will be able to visit any place in the state. They will be able to stay in the hotel premises for the first seven days.
Hotels will also have to ensure that guests booking less than 7 days have received RT-PCR test from an ICMR authorised laboratory in the last 72 hours and their Covid-19 test is found to be negative. Inter-state tourists will be allowed to travel anywhere in the state, but for this they will have to be compulsorily registered on the smart city portal.
Giving details about the new guidelines, Jawalkar added, “Guests coming from Uttarakhand and other states to attend wedding ceremonies will not have to be quarantined although it will be conditional on that, apart from the place of marriage, they will not be able to visit other places. All of them have to sign and submit a self-declaration form in this regard. The hotel or the banquet hall organising the wedding ceremony will inform the local administration in this regard and will ensure thermal screening and social distancing. Also, they have to compulsorily create a database of their employees and visitors.
