Tourism operations in Visakhapatnam district, which were earlier planned to be resumed from August 1, have now been postponed by five days to August 5 in the wake of a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.
Officials of the Tourism Department in the district have now been asked to be ready to resume operations from August 5, it is learnt.
A few weeks ago, after holding a review meet with officials, Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao had instructed officials to resume tourism activities in the State from August 1.
However, with more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases being reported in the last two days, officials have decided to push back the reopening by a few more days.
The Minister conducted a meet with officials of the Tourism Department on Friday, where a decision was taken to allow tourists from next week. The Minister said that boating operations will also resume under the strict monitoring of Boating Control Rooms, in adherence to a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the State Government. “We were asked to be ready to resume all tourism operations from August 5. In the meantime, we have also been instructed to carry out pending works,” said a senior official from the district.
Grinding halt
Tourism operations had come to a grinding halt since early March after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Shortly thereafter, a nationwide lockdown was imposed, thus bringing the entire industry to a standstill.
The tourism department in the district has suffered losses of up to ₹15 crore due to the pandemic. “We have finished all activities related to COVID-19 protocols at tourism spots. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) given by the government is already being implemented at hotels and restaurants. APTDC will also strictly implement COVID-19 norms at the tourist spots also,” said Divisional Manager, APTDC, Visakhapatnam, T.G Prasada Reddy.
He said that APTDC hotels and restaurants have been opened to the public following instructions from the Central government from June 8.
