The government has set in place rules and regulations to govern the movement of passengers from Europe in light of the emergence of the Omicron variant. It was one of the demands made by members of the hospitality industry in the state. This they claimed would help them understand the rules that needed to be followed in order to ensure visitors could come in.
According to the rules and regulation to
combat Omicron, all international travellers arriving in India will be required
to fill a self-declaration form (SDF) and share a copy of their negative RT-PCR
test report taken 72 hours prior with the airlines before boarding the
aircraft. Passengers originating or transiting from at-risk countries shall be
informed by the airlines that they will undergo post-arrival testing,
quarantine if tested negative, stringent isolation protocols if tested
positive. According to an updated list, the countries designated as 'at-risk'
are the European countries, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China,
Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel. Passengers
will have to undergo a RT-PCR test at the point of arrival (self-paid). If
negative, passengers can depart the airport but undergo home isolation for
seven days, followed by repeat testing on the eighth day of arrival in India,
followed by seven days of self-monitoring. If they test positive, the
passengers will be isolated as per clinical management protocol and their
samples will be taken for Whole Genome Sequencing. Travellers from countries
excluding those ‘Countries at risk’ will be allowed to leave the airport and
shall self-monitor their health for 14 days' post-arrival.
For charter operators it was a mixed bag. Sheikh Ismail, general
manager, Concord Travels & Tours, said he would like to wait for a couple
of days in order to check with the ministry. He said “Our operators abroad are
a bit confused. They would like a letter from our side stating that tourists from
Russia will not be quarantined. They bring around 522 tourists on each flight
and they don’t want their passengers to experience any discomfort. We are
getting bookings from Russia and I feel these rules will not affect business.
It is just that there is some confusion. We will send them that guarantee
letter stating that they don’t have to go to quarantine. I am thankful the
government did not place Russia or any other CIS country on the list.”
Abida Kumar VP Operations of Minar Travels said it was good
Russia and Kazakhistan were not on the list. With regards to the UK, it made no
sense for them to come down because as a at risk nation travellers from that
country would have to go into quarantine which would negate the very purpose of
coming down on a holiday. She said business could be expected from Russia and
Kazakhistan and that was in itself great news. She also revealed that according
to her sources there was a strong possibility the UK could go under lockdown
again in December.
Serrafin Cotta who heads the medium and small hotel association
felt the English would certainly react to this because he said they would not
appreciate the fact that a distinction had been made between them and the
Russians. He said “A large number of them come on short holidays, those who
come on a long stay and they might not mind the quarantine. They would not mind
staying by themselves sitting on the balcony reading their book. This is of
course unlike the Russians who like to move around. Let’s see what happens during
the season. Yes, the domestic tourists will be here so yes business will happen
but the foreign guests bring something different to the business”.
Nilesh Shah the President of TTAG said he was ok with the rest
because it was important to guarantee the safety of everyone. He said “It was
important to follow all the WHO guidelines. But I will say this talk of
quarantine even after testing negative will have a negative effect on tourism.
I personally feel it is an evolving situation and I think in a couple of days
the guidelines may change. I hope something works out for the UK. Like I said,
a test is fine but a quarantine is a bit too far.”
Padma Nair who runs a small hotel in Calangute said he was very
concerned about the fact that English would be affected. He said “A large
number of our international tourists are from the UK and Russia. We expected
the Russians to start coming in from December 15 and now the situation is dicey
again. Yes we get the domestic tourists but they are here in great numbers over
the weekend. And yes, there is a great deal of undercutting that is taking
place amongst the hotels on the beach front which makes it very difficult.
Let's see how it all works out.”
One
can only hope it all works out fine for the industry.