PANJIM: As Goa government is keen to restart its key tourism sector in a bid to boost State’s dwindling economy during the time of COVID-19 crisis, the State is possibly the only tourism hub seeking registration of hotels willing to resume accommodation operations.
The Central government issued guidelines to hotels to open their business anytime from June 8, 2020, onwards. But this came with a rider from the State government that asked the business operators to register with the Department of Tourism before resuming their operations.
Herald spoke to Tourism Director Menino D’Souza, who said the government will permit operations of the applicant hoteliers based on safety standards adopted by the hotels. “We want to know how many hotels want to start (operations). Some protocols have to be put in place such as how the visitors will be screened, whether there would be mandatory test, whether the tourists would be asked for 14 days quarantine… many factors will have to be checked with regards to the safety of everyone,” he said.
The guidelines as per the Ministry of Home Affairs are to be maintained besides safety and health hygiene. The information, D’Souza said, is needed as the government is working on Standard of Operating Procedure (SOP) for resumption of tourism.
Few tourism destinations in the country have been trying to bounce back through partial resumption of tourism.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has backed the decision of the government citing safety standards while explaining that hotels will recommence operations in staggered manner.
“The idea behind it that if the hotels are ready to take up the safety standards, and also to calibrate its reopening. Each hotel has to follow SOP not only for the guests but also for the working staff and people living in the vicinity,” TTAG President Nilesh Shah said.
The Tourism Department has already begun preparing booklets of the safety standards which would be disbursed to the hotels, before reopening their business.
“They (government) don’t want all the hotels to start straightway. It will be done in staggered manner to ensure safety and compliance of the guidelines. Safety is of paramount importance,” he commented.
Until Tuesday, the department received 30 applications from the hotels wishing to reopen. D’Souza said permissions to each will be decided by the government.
