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Hoteliers say no to ‘quarantine tourism’ proposed by Himachal government

The peak of summer tourist season in Himachal Pradesh is over with zero profits. The hoteliers in the state capital, tribal areas and other parts of the state have rejected the state government’s proposed “quarantine tourism” to ramp up the tourism sector badly hit by the lockdown since March 20. According to the hoteliers, the main summer tourist season from April to June was nil and over. “It is not prudent enough to open hotels for tourists amid the surge in the COVID-19 infections in the state and the country as a whole,” they cautioned. The Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association said “no” to the government’s quarantine tourism, allowing the outsiders to stay in hotels for 14-day long quarantine. The Lahaul and Spiti Hoteliers’ Association, along with other public bodies and panchayats in the tribal belt, have already locked the valley for outsiders, including tourists. Many similar other bodies in Kullu Manali, Chail and Dharamshala have also conveyed their decision not to open the hotels, home-stay units and resorts to tourists for “quarantine tourism”. “If the hotels, resorts and home-stay units are opened, tourists could import the virus, which in turn will pose a risk to the staff, guests and local citizens,” said Sanjay Sood, president, Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association. “We have conveyed our decision to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and the Tourism Department not to open the properties for quarantine tourism till some vaccine is available and cases recede,” he added. As far as the proposed “quarantine tourism” is concerned, hoteliers do not feel it would be a good step for tourism in Himachal Pradesh, Sood said, adding “this could be unsafe for the employees, our properties, and most importantly, our citizens in towns and villages.” The captains of the hospitality sector said the industry supported the Chief Minister’s decision to close borders of Himachal to tourists to check the import of the virus from outside. All stakeholders came together on a single platform and locked the tribal belt for outsiders as soon the cases started increasing in the state, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir in March-April, said Tashi Hayarpa, president, Lahaul-Spiti Hoteliers Association. “Today, we and our children are safe. No case has been reported in Lahaul-Spiti so far. We will not open hotels and monasteries this year. Life is more important than tourism,” he added. Himachal was broadly safe and we did not support the move to open borders for tourism as cases were going to increase manifold in June and July, said the hoteliers. “Since cases are on the rise in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Punjab, we should not consider opening hotels till at least end of August or September, unless we have a vaccine to cure COVID-19,” the hoteliers opined. “It does not make sense at this point of time to open the state to tourism till there is normalcy in the domestic and international air traffic and all inter-state borders are open,” said Nakul Khullar, a hotelier from Kullu-Manali, adding that the government must concentrate on quarantine and testing to prevent the spread of the pandemic in the community. To rev up tourism in Himachal Pradesh, the state government should market Himachal as a safe destination for wellness tourism, adventure tourism, environmental tourism, cultural tourism, health tourism, religious tourism, culinary tourism, Sood said. He said the hoteliers would have two to three months to train the employees as per the COVID-19 guidelines to take care of the guests, themselves and the properties. “We suggest the government should take members of all hotel associations of Himachal in the loop for a safe revival of the tourism sector, waiving all charges incurred on the publicity,” Khullar added.

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South Africa's tourism activities and skies open up

South Africa has been globally lauded by key COVID-19 experts for handling the pandemic in an effective manner, slowing down infections and implementing various lockdown measures through a risk adjusted strategy aimed at easing restrictions and opening up the economy and other activities over 5 alert levels. “It is interesting to me the manner in which South Africa is bringing the disease under control. The strategy in South Africa was based on preparation, primary prevention, lockdown and enhanced surveillance,” said Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) during a press conference in April. When the risk-adjusted strategy was initially introduced in April, the tourism sector was placed at alert level 1 with some operations permissible at alert level 2. However, over the last few weeks, a lot of consultative work and focus has been placed on both de-risking the sector and putting health & operational protocols in place for the safety of all tourists and employees. These have been benchmarked against measures being rolled out globally. Following industry-wide engagements, there has been a commitment by the South African government, led by President Ramaphosa and the private sector, to work towards a phased reopening of the sector, starting at Level 3. In his recent address to the nation, President Ramaphosa announced that the alert level for the whole country will be lowered from Level 4 to Level 3, with effect from 01 June 2020. Therefore, domestic tourism has opened for business travel and other limited activities, with partial domestic air travel for business purposes allowed. The movements across the levels (including duration & timelines) are dependent on the trajectory of the pandemic. Along with global trends, it is expected that in South Africa, domestic tourism and business travel will lead the recovery followed by regional and international (long-haul) travel. We have noticed some global destinations are now assessing entering the regional phase of reopening through AirBridge/Travel Bubbles between regional countries. As more data becomes available and more safety & health measures being put in place in South Africa, the impact of COVID-19 on the country is being updated and refined. It is therefore extremely important to understand that changes do happen on a regular basis. As such, the tourism sector phases of reopening are reviewed and revised regularly and updates can be found on www.southafrica.net South Africa Tourism said in a statement, "We thank all our trade partners for their continued support. Every day, we are taking a step closer towards seeing more travel restrictions being lifted and borders opening up again. We are looking forward to once again welcoming tourists from all over the world and sharing our beautiful country that boasts scenic landscapes and a wide variety of life-enriching experiences with great service excellence."

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Odisha plans cruise tourism, green activists oppose

The Odisha government plans to organise cruises in selected water bodies of the state with private participation in order to promote tourism which has been devastated by the Cyclone Fani last year and now the lockdown. The state tourism department has invited proposals from the prospective participants to develop daily cruise service at Chilika Lake, Mahanadi, Bhitarkanika, Satkosia Gorge and Hirakud reservoir. “The last date for submission of proposal is July 10,” tweeted Odisha tourism department. Tourism secretary Vishal Kumar Dev told The Telegraph: “We have a long coastline of 482km, five major rivers, reservoirs and water bodies including Chilika, the largest brackish water lake of Asia. All these water bodies possess tremendous tourism potential. To unlock the potential, the department is planning to develop day cruises in select water bodies of the state with private sector participation.” He said: “Tourism sector contributes around 10 per cent of the state’s GDP. After Fani, we had organised Konark retreat festivals near the Konark sea beach and received good response. Now we plan to bring international cruise operators to the state to boost tourism. We have floated expression of interest (EoI) for this purpose. We are in touch with three to four international cruise operators.” Officials further maintained: “Odisha Tourism Policy 2016 offers many fiscal incentives for projects like water sports, adventure sports, house boat, cruise tourism project, aquarium, aqua-park etc. by way of investment and interest subsidy with an intention to promote private sector investments. Fiscal incentives are also available under large revenue generating projects of the Government of India like cruise vessels, cruise terminal etc.” The Odisha government has framed Odisha Boat Rules 2017 to regulate water sports activities in the state. However, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and environmentalists have opposed the cruise move. “Cruise on a big vessel sounds fun but one should consider its impact on the ecosystem of these water bodies. Chilika, Satkosia and Bhitarkanika are fragile and protected sites which are already facing dozens of unintentional and unexpected hazards. The impact of such cruise tourism has to be studied in detail before venturing on any foolhardy projects. All these three are notified and protected areas, with vulnerable flora and fauna. While Chilika has a dwindling Dolphin population, Bhitarkanika has the salt water crocodiles and delicate mangroves. Satkosia Gorge comes within the project tiger area and crocodiles are diminishing in count,” said Anil Dhir, the project coordinator of INTACH Odisha. Dr Biswajit Mohanty, noted environmentalist and chairman of Greenpeace India, said: “The tourism department’s plans to run cruises in Odisha need to be thoroughly reviewed since the plans are for highly biodiverse and rich wildlife areas. The 22 km long Satkosia Gorge is the core area of a Tiger Reserve. Tourism is banned in core areas of Tiger Reserves as per the Supreme Court order. Secondly Chilika is also an important birding and dolphin area. Nine lakh birds arrive here every winter, the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins are highly stressed due to 500 motorised boats chasing them for dolphin tourism. Most parts of the lake are shallow with less than five feet of water. How will large cruise boats navigate? Bhitarkanika is a Ramsar site and a National Park. It is a highly eco-fragile area with mangroves, estuarine crocodiles, monitor lizards, fishing cats, otters and nesting birds. Motorised boat cruises should never be permitted there. Four existing catamarans bought at a cost of Rs 3 crore by the forest department are lying idle for the last five years for want of tourists who can afford them. He said, “A small stretch upstream of Mundali on Mahanadi river can be feasible but that too is a prime birding area of migratory waterfowl and has nesting populations of Indian Skimmers on the islands which will be affected.” However, tourism officials maintained that they would go ahead with the proposed projects despite object by certain groups.

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India to Resume International Flights Once Countries Ease Restrictions

New Delhi: India will take a decision on resumption of international passenger flights as soon as countries ease restrictions on entry of foreign nationals, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday. Countries like Japan and Singapore have put significant restrictions on entry of foreigners amid the coronavirus pandemic. "A decision to resume regular international operations will be taken as soon as countries ease restrictions on entry of foreign nationals. Destination countries have to be ready to allow incoming flights," Mr Puri said on Twitter. India resumed its domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus lockdown. "Most countries have less than 10 per cent international operations because they are allowing entry only to their own citizens and have placed restrictions on foreign nationals," the minister stated. Many countries are allowing inbound flights from a few nations, but have placed restrictions like quarantine or isolation, he said. Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India. However, special repatriation flights are being operated by Air India and other airlines to countries across the world under the Vande Bharat Mission. On June 1, Mr Puri said several factors like the lockdown in metro cities and the ban imposed by various countries on the entry of foreigners need to be addressed before resuming international passenger flights in India. Airports in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have been allowed to handle a restricted number of daily domestic flights as these states do not want a huge influx of flyers amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

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Centre, states must plan for post-Covid tourism: PM Modi

New Delhi: Tourism can play a big role in reviving the economy hit by Covid-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told chief ministers on Monday as he pointed to the potential of domestic tourism as well as the opportunity to attract a larger number of overseas travellers since many of the key destinations in Europe have faced the brunt of the pandemic. The PM said the Centre and all states have to seriously think how the “post-corona tourism” would look like as India has adequate opportunities in this sector, according to people privy to the details of the conversation. They said the PM remarked that the contours of domestic tourism in the days to come need to be examined and that he saw domestic tourism as one area which could benefit most in the post-corona world and play a part in revving up the economy. States should work on new protocols for their hotel infrastructure and other tourist facilities to align them with the needs of a post-corona world, the PM told the CMs. “The idea is to attract world tourists to India,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified. The Union tourism ministry and states could work closely on this idea as the PM said economic activities have to be speeded up. A senior official in the office of one of the CMs told ET that it was apparent that people in India and abroad could avoid international travel to top tourist destinations such as Italy, Spain, France and the UK in the coming months given the spread of coronavirus there, even though these countries may open up soon. “International tourists may prefer India, which is far less affected and only in certain pockets, and our domestic tourists that go abroad for holidays may also prefer visiting Indian destinations,” said the state official. Sensing a long-term lull in overseas travel, the tourism ministry recently launched 'Dekho Apna Desh' (see your country), a webinar series hosted by experts who share key nuggets and information on more than a dozen destinations -- Delhi, Varanasi, Puducherry, Ladakh, Kolkata, Lucknow, Punjab, Goa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Northeast India. The ministry’s idea was also to increasingly focus on building interest around key domestic destinations this year. States such as TN, Kerala, Delhi, UP and Maharashtra, which attract many foreign tourists, are especially eager to restart tourist activity.

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Major tourist spots to open today in Mysuru

Mysuru: With tourist spots including Chamundi Hills, Mysuru Palace and Mysuru zoo set to reopen from Monday, people in the tourism industry are hopeful that the sector will get revived. Businessmen are hoping that things will return to normal, once these tourist spots open. The possible revival of the tourism industry is also being attributed to the successful treatment of more than 90 Covid-19 patients. H Janardhan, deputy director, tourism department, said, “Due to the pandemic, tourism suffered a lot. Now, with district administration has successfully controlled the situation by treating Covid-19 patients. With the reopening of most of the tourist spots, hotels and lodges, tourism will pick up in a few days time. Instead of going to other states, people will definitely prefer to come to Mysuru.” Narayana Gowda, president, Hotel Owners Association, Mysuru, and B S Prashanth of Safe Wheels also mentioned that with the opening of tourist spots and hotels,tourism will gradually pick up in Mysuru. Meanwhile, the Mysuru police has made security arrangements for crowd management as hotels, malls, places of worship and the zoo. All the prominent tourist places are reopening after a long spell. As Chamundi Temple may witness a large number of devotees, Krishnaraja division of police headed by a ACP level police officer, has deployed three police inspectors, five sub-inspectors and more than 50 police personnel there. Tyavarekoppa Safari to open today Shivamogga: Tyavarekoppa Tiger and Lion Safari in Shivamogga will reopen at 9am on Monday, said the executive director of the place, B Mukunda Chandra. The Sakrebyle Elephant camp, also a major tourist place on the banks of the Tunga river, will also open from Monday.

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