700 tourists enter Himachal within a week

Around 700 tourists have visited Himachal Pradesh since the state government allowed entry of tourists almost a week ago. The healthy tourist inflow has happened despite the majority of hotel owners and their associations in the state not wanting tourists from other states to enter Himachal.

Tourism and civil aviation secretary Devesh Kumar said that the standard operating procedure issued by the department was prepared after examining SOPs of other states who have opened their borders for tourism.

Tourism director Yunus said that officials are verifying the documents and registration of tourists at the entry points to the state and they are again verified by the staff at the hotel or homestay.

Under the current rules, tourists need to register themselves on covid19epass.hp.gov.in under the tourist category at least 48 hours before visiting the state, carry a covid test certificate (RT-PCR) issued by an ICMR certified laboratory with a negative report which should not be older than 72 hours at the time of entry.

They should also have a confirmed booking with a registered tourism unit for a minimum period of five days, apart from downloading the Aarogya Setu mobile phone application.