News

Ending longest shutdown, Assam’s Kaziranga national park opens for tourists

Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) will reopen for tourists on Wednesday after a gap of over seven months because of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Assam. This is the longest shutdown for KNPTR in its 112-year history. KNPTR authorities said that the park famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses and tigers would be formally reopened at 11 am on Wednesday by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at a function. All five national parks and 18 wildlife sanctuaries in Assam, including KNPTR, which usually remains shut for around five months annually due to floods, were closed in March following the Covid-19 outbreak. “This is the longest period of closure for KNPTR. Usually, the park remains closed from the end of May because of annual floods. However, this year, it was shut for an additional two and half months due to Covid-19,” said P Sivakumar, director, KNPTR. “The usual precautionary measures such as wearing masks, using hand sanitisers and maintaining social distancing will be put to practise while allowing tourists to enter the park. We will also ensure that a limited number of jeep safaris are allowed at a time. The vehicles’ tyres will be sanitised after each trip,” he added. All tourists will have to go through a screening process and anyone detected with Covid-19-related symptoms such as high fever, cough and could will be segregated and handed over to local health authorities. The elephant safaris won’t be allowed to operate during the first few days of the park’s reopening and may resume from November. Initially, only the Kohora and Bagori ranges of the park, which is spread over 914 square (sq) kilometres (km), would be reopened for tourists, the authorities added.

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Hawaii reopens after seven months; sees more than 8000 tourists on the first day

Hawaii has finally reopened its borders for oversea tourists after remaining in lockdown for nearly seven months. On the very first day, the US state recorded about 8000 tourists’ footfall. The latest Hawaii guidelines state that tourists can travel to Hawaiian Islands without going under a mandatory 14-day quarantine by showing a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of boarding their flight. If someone arrives in the state without a COVID-19 certificate, they have the option to not get tested and choose a 14-day quarantine. Also, travellers need to create a profile on Safe Travels website that will help the authorities to keep a track and enforce quarantines for such visitors. Hawaii’s pre-travel program is to kickstart the tourism industry in the state, which has suffered immensely due to the virus breakdown since March. According to local news, among 4000 restaurants, bakeries, and eateries, nearly 100 have closed permanently. Hawaii’s economy is mostly tourism based. On this note, Avi Mannis, the SVP of marketing for Hawaiian Airlines told a local news channel that it’s very important for the economy of the state to restart tourism. "And we’ve got to do it safely in a way that keeps our community safe, that keeps our guests and our industry workers safe," he said. Hawaii was quick to impose lockdown during the initial phase of the pandemic and mandatory quarantine was put in place on March 26. With these measures, the state successfully avoided the early spikes. However, this majorly affected the state’s economy. Every traveller's paradise, Hawaii is one gorgeous island destination in the US renowned for its pristine beaches, blue lagoons, emerald valleys and active volcanoes. The place is a paradise for beach vacation seekers. Some of the must-visit beaches in the state are the Hulopoe Beach in Lanai, Hapuna Beach, Kaanapali Beach in Maui, Kaunaoa Beach in Big Island and Lanikai Beach in O'ahu.

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Goa resumes water sports and cruises; operators to follow SOPs

Adventure enthusiasts waiting to traverse the Goan waters have a reason to cheer now. According to reports, Goa’s state government has permitted water sports activities and river cruises. However, operators have been told to follow a set of rules strictly laid down by the government. - Boat occupancy cannot be more than 50 per cent of total capacity. - Seating should be done keeping in view physical distancing among the people. Seats that are supposed to be kept vacant should be well-marked. - It is mandatory to perform thermal screening for river cruises. Asymptomatic tourists shall be permitted to board the cruise. - Boats, life jackets and floating devices have to be sanitised at regular intervals, and social distancing to be observed. - Entry points to have hand sanitisers. All tourists must self-sanitise before entering the boat/cruise. Staggered entry and exit of tourists to be practiced to avoid overcrowding. - River cruises to function with smaller groups and staggered timings. - In case of water sports, operators are to accept bookings from only those tourists, who do not have a history of COVID-19 infection in the last 28 days. - Activity operators should ask for details related to age, medical history, COVID-19 tests done in the past, allergies etc. from tourists through a self-declaration form. - Operators to do online bookings with cashless transactions only.

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Tourism Dept begins renovation of Kashmir’s heritage places

Srinagar, Oct 19: In a bid to upgrade the tourism infrastructure in the Valley, the tourism department has started a process to renovate the heritage place including some historic Jamia Masjid in Old City area of Nowhatta, Raghunath temple in Habba Kadal, some Gurudwaras and churches here. Sources privy to the development told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that many of the heritage places including religious places are being renovated at present. They said the renovation work for heritage places has been started almost two months back and is going on at pace in the Valley. Reliable sources added that many of these under renovation places fall in smart city project. They added that the renovation work at many places has been started as per the public demand. “Many heritage as well as religious places including historic Jamia Masjid, Raghunath temple, Gurdwaras, Church and others,” sources said, adding that the renovation work will be completed at shortest possible time as per the directions given by the Tourism department. Talking to KNO, Tourism Director Nisar Ahmad Wani said the renovation work at many heritage places is currently going on. “Some of the works have been started as per public demand. The renovation work at all these places is aimed to upgrade the tourism infra in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. About Raghunath temple, he said the renovation work will be completed in this financial year only. “We are taking all possible steps to upgrade the infrastructure here,” he said. Pertinently, Raghunath Temple was constructed by the first Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh in the year 1835 and later his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh got it completed in the year 1860 During Dogra rule. He added Jamia Masjid, Gurudwaras, and Imam Badas are being repaired at present. “We are promoting the infra which is normally required by tourists are visitors, we are promoting their facilities,” he said—(KNO).

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All Tourist Spots In Mysuru, Mandya Open For Visitors

On Friday, a delegation of travel, tourism and hotel associations met Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in city and had appealed him to reconsider the District Administration’s order on closure of tourism spots till Nov. 1. Responding to their plea, the CM had asked Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri to reconsider her decision. This morning, District Minister S.T. Somashekar announced revoking of the DC’s order and said important tourist destinations like Mysore Palace, Mysuru Zoo, Chamundi Hill, Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery, Nanjangud’s Srikan-teshwaraswamy Temple in Mysuru district; and Brindavan Gardens, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary will also be thrown open to tourists during Dasara season. However, the State Government has urged the tourists to follow all COVID safety norms compulsorily.

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Kerala to implement Green Protocol for all tourism activities in Vembanad Lake

Recognising the damage unbridled tourism is leaving behind on most popular backwater destinations in Kerala, the state tourism will be implementing a Green Protocol at such places to make environmental conservation more sustainable. Inaugurating the third anniversary of the establishment of Responsible Tourism Mission (RT Mission) Kerala, Tourism Minister of Kerala, Kadakampally Surendran said that the state government is planning strong intervention to save the backwaters which has been exploited by the tourism industry as “goose laying golden eggs,” so far, threatening the very existence of these water bodies. The Tourism Minister said that all tourism activities happening at such ecologically fragile water bodies will be regulated by implementing Green Protocol. He said that implementation of projects like clean Vembanad lake and waste-free Ashtamudi will be given to RT Mission. The minister said that RT classification will be made mandatory for all accommodation units, houseboats in the state. The minister said that the establishment of the RT Mission Kerala was part of the vision of the State government to make tourism in the state democratic, responsible and sustainable. He said that Responsible tourism is not a publicity stunt but a mission to deliver benefits to the marginalised sections of the people in the society. Speaking on the occasion, P Bala Kiran, Director - Tourism, Kerala said that the RT Mission has been able to achieve its goals despite numerous hurdles on the way like the floods of 2018, the current global pandemic. He said that the activities of the RT Mission has been spread to all 14 districts now with more than 20,000 units. However, he said that what is missing is the linkages between the RT activities and the mainstream tourism industry. He urged the mainstream industry to help create more linkages with the RT Mission activities and more than 20,000 RT units spread across the state. Rupesh Kumar, state coordinator, RT Mission Kerala presented the report on the activities of the RT Mission on the occasion. He said that the mission had been able to take the activities from a handful of destinations to all the 14 districts in the last three years. He said that today there are 20,000 RT units active across the State with the benefits reaching at least a lakh people. More than 1200 hotels, 376 homestays, 800 houseboats and over 100 tour operators work closely with the RT Mission, he said. Kumar said that the Mission has been able to put together 140 RT tour packages for people to explore the village life experiences. Tourism industry leaders of the State Baby Mathew, President, KTM; EM Najeeb, President, CKTI, Abraham George, Tourism Advisory Board Member, Kerala, Anish Kumar, former President of ATTOI; and Sivaduttan, President, KeralaHATS spoke on the occasion and appreciated the efforts of RT Mission and assured to work together to build linkages between the mainstream industry and the RT Mission activities in the state.

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