Himachal Government Reopens the State for Tourists, Not Many Functioning

Since Mid-March, the state of Himachal Pradesh had been closed for the outsiders. It was done in compliance with the central government guidelines to shut every border within the country after the coronavirus outbreak. The highly contagious COVID-19 had already taken several lives and created chaos in the entire world. Himachal Pradesh is one of the most visited tourist destinations in India, where a plethora of visitors arrive every year. Hence, leaving the doors to this hamlet open could be nothing less than a perilous stunt. But, after three months, in the first week of July, the state government ordered the authorities to reopen every city and town in the state for tourists. Regardless of that, many hotels haven’t started functioning yet.

It’s because the Tourism Department issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), stating the conditions required to be met for getting entry in the state. These conditions included a report generated no earlier than 72 hours by an ICMR-accredited laboratory, testing negative for COVID-19 and hotel bookings of at least five days prior to the date of arrival. The state tourism director, Yunus Khan, said that people also have to register online with the state government before arrival.

Although the state welcomed the decision with precautionary training being provided to the hotel staff, many hotels haven’t opened yet. Usually, the hotels remain closed for one month (15 March to 15 April) for maintenance purposes but that wasn’t possible this year due to the lockdown. It is anticipated that this is the reason why many hotels are still preparing for receiving the tourists. The president of the Tourist Industry Stakeholder Association, Mohinder Seth said that it might take a little longer to train the entire hotel staff and complete the maintenance work. After that, the number of working accommodations will increase.

Adding to that, Kasauli Hoteliers Association president, Rajendra Chopra stated that they haven’t decided yet whether to open the accommodations or not. On the other hand, Devendra Sharma, Chail Hotel Association president, requested the Himachal Pradesh tourist industry to update the latest tourist information and guidelines on their website to inform visitors about the conditions they need to follow when traveling to Himachal Pradesh.

For the disappointment of Manali tourists, Anoop Thakur, Hoteliers Association Manali president, said that in the latest meeting, they have decided to keep the hotels in Manali closed despite the state government’s permission to open them. According to the stats, 507 visitors arrived in the state in just three days after registering online. While some of them booked government hotels, many others went for private settings.

Since the day the state first opened after a gap of three months, the authority has been ensuring the compliance of the conditions meticulously as several visitors were sent back from the interstate border at Parwanoo because they were not carrying the test reports and prior hotel bookings. While no report provides the exact number of defaulters, Gaurav Singh, Kullu Superintendent of Police, said that approximately 49 people tried to trespass the state without a COVID testing report during the first three days. He added that the majority of these tourists were from Haryana, Chandigarh, and Punjab, along with three from Telangana. Adding further, he said that three travelers from Chandigarh even insisted based on an OPD slip of being asymptomatic issued by a Chandigarh hospital. All of them were turned back as the safety of hundreds of people couldn’t be put at risk due to a couple of defaulters.

The number of tourists doesn’t even lurk around the usual crowd the state of Himachal Pradesh used to encounter before. The reason being the hill stations that are taking a little longer to acclimating with the new normal. Nevertheless, whether functioning or not, the authorities at every border within the state are ensuring nobody gets the entry without fulfilling the government regulated standards.