Uttarakhand has announced that tourists visiting the state with a negative Covid-19 certification will not require the mandatory quarantine process. However, the famed ‘Char Dham Yatra’ will be available only to the residents of Uttarakhand at present.
Uttarakhand’s Tourism Minister, Satpal Maharaj said, “Tourists from other states are welcome in Uttarakhand’s ‘Devbhoomi’. We hope that the tourism business of the state will gain new momentum and people working in the tourism sector will get employment again.”
Uttarakhand’s Tourism Secretary, Dilip Jawalkar informed 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 they must necessarily carry the report with them while traveling in the state.
Tourists who wish to enter the state without a Covid-19 test will require to quarantine in a hotel facility for a minimum seven days, after which they will be allowed to visit any place in the state.
Hotels on their part will also have to ensure that guests booking for less than 7 days have received RT-PCR test from ICMR authorized 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 other details about the new guidelines, Jawalkar said “Guests coming from Uttarakhand and other states to attend a wedding ceremony won’t require to be quarantined although their movement will be restricted to the venue of the marriage. All such visitors have to sign and submit a self-declaration form. 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, such facilities have to compulsorily create a database of their employees and visitors.”