Travellers can now travel to Uttarakhand, Goa and Himachal Pradesh, have to follow guidelines

This news does come as a relief and is also one of the most anticipated updates for many who have been locked in their houses due to the ongoing pandemic, practicing social distancing to avoid the spread of COVID19. The Indian tourism industry has announced a series of relaxations under the Unlock 2.0 program, which has made travelling to states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and even Goa possible. This has come into effect from July 1 with the lifting of ban on the intra- and interstate travel in the country.

Before you start rushing in, calling your near and dear ones to plan a trip to one of these states, or all of them, it should be known the tourism department has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that all the tourists have to adhere to before travelling. People travelling to Uttarakhand have to make sure that they book hotels and homestays that are not in containment zones. Travellers have to present their COVID-19 test results on the official government website. Further, upon entering the border checkposts, all the medical reports will be checked by the concerned officials who can allow you to enter the state.

Hotels and homestays  will ask guests for negative COVID-19 test certificates that should be done at ICMR accredited labs and have to be done 72 hours before their arrival. While guests arriving from inter state locations need not go through mandatory quarantine procedure, those travelling from other countries have to register themselves and go through the quarantine procedure. Lastly, all the hotels and the home stays have been instructed to take bookings for a maximum period of a week. The guidelines are largely similar for travellers entering Himachal Pradesh, except that they have to register themselves.

"Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the state and is the backbone of our economy. In this unlock phase, we are kickstarting our economy again by keeping the highest health safety norms in place in view of #COVID19." tweeted, Menino D'Souza, Tourism Director of Goa. Also, while entering Goa, hotel bookings will be checked at the border along with the above mentioned COVID19 negative test reports. In case, the traveller doesn't have the report, the person will be asked to get a test done and his/her health will be observed under isolation.