TAAK asks govt to designate tourist quarantine centers, make RT-PCR tests mandatory

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Ziraat Times
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Srinagar: In a important development, Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK) in a statement issued to press impressed upon the LG Administration to designate administrative quarantine centers for tourists testing positive and make RT-PCR test mandatory for all the tourists entering Kashmir valley.

President TAAK, Farooq Kuthoo opined that due to the rising number of Covid cases and the huge tourist influx, it is important to follow this practice to stop the further spread of the virus and send a goodwill message to tourists intending to travel to the valley.

Tourists arriving with COVID-19 negative reports should be required to give their sample for RT-PCR testing on arrival at the airport, it said, adding that the present system of RAT at Srinagar airport allows the tourists to check in at the hotels which puts the ground handlers at huge risk.

Covid testing on arrival is worrying us since we remain in direct contact with the positive cases during their stay in Kashmir, it said.

“The RAT reports of travelers are delayed at the airport. By the time, reports are dispatched; ground handlers have already come in contact with the visitors. We want negative RTPCR reports to be produced by every visitor on his or her arrival at the airport,” said President Travel Agents Association of Kashmir Farooq Ahmad Kuthoo.

Kuthoo said the airport administration should not allow tourists to leave the premises till their reports are available. “This is the only way to prevent the spread of Covid-19,” he said.

President TAAK said several bookings are getting canceled due to the surge in Covid cases. The situation will be worse if the government doesn’t handle it well by making negative RTPCR reports mandatory for every traveler,” he said.

Showkat Khankashi, Secretary General, TAAK said that tourists testing positive are left high and dry due to lack of proper guidelines in place which not only puts them at huge inconvenience but it sends a wrong message across country.

If the government is serious in promoting safe Tourism, they must have the proper guidelines like RT PCR and administrative quarantine centers in place, he said.

We call upon the Administration to follow these practices before it is too late, TAAK said.

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