Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Nov 01: The Andaman Association of Tour Operators (AATO) has welcomed the move of Andaman and Nicobar Administration to publish published Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for testing COVID-19 for incoming tourists.
“There was lot of confusions related to testing of tourists and this SOP has cleared all doubts. This is a very positive step towards revival of tourism,” said Mr. M Vinod the president of AATO.
The Andaman and Nicobar Administration this morning published the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for testing COVID-19 for incoming tourists, to further streamline the procedure and considering the convenience of the tourists.
Earlier, on the occasion of World Tourism Day, Tourism sector in the Islands was re-opened to revive the badly affected economy of the Islands due to COVID19 pandemic.
The Tourism activities were permitted in South Andaman District (except Little Andaman) with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in the first phase including opening of beaches, museums, Light & Sound show at National Memorial Cellular Jail and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island and water sport activities of boat rides and snorkeling.
As per the SOP, a tourist can visit Islands even with a negative RTPCR/True Nat test report from any ICMR approved lab anywhere in India.
The tourists should have the sample taken not before 48 hours before the departure from originating station. In case the tourist does not carry any RTPCR/True Nat test report, he/she will have to undergo Rapid Antigen Test at the airport at the cost of Rs.500/- per person.
Simultaneously, Tourism Department in consultation with NIWS, Goa is also preparing SOPs for other adventure water sports activities i.e. Scuba Diving, Parasailing, Sea-Walk and Sea-Kart which will be finalised soon.
With this the Administration is hoping that, economic growth will pick up in Andaman, providing livelihoods support to the Islanders, while keeping the spread of COVID-19 under check.
The AATO has also expressed gratitude towards Chief Secretary for making this SOP public.
However, the AATO has requested the Administration to increase the number of flights to Andaman.
Very recently there were only two flights daily and since today Andaman has allowed three flights a day to land in Port Blair, the AATO has now requested atleast five flights daily in the month of November and 10 fights daily in the month of December so that tourists can reach Port Blair easily.
Before lockdowns Andaman used to get close to 20 flights a day, during peak season, and it is felt by many that daily three fights, operated at present, is insufficient to bring in sufficient tourists for Andaman.
