The much-awaited health guidelines for tourists are expected to be made public today after weeks-long, multiple rounds of discussions and fine-tuning by medical and tourism stakeholders.
A decision to this effect was made during a top-level meeting presided by Presidential Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Eradication Chairman Basil Rajapaksa yesterday.
Prior to yesterday’s meeting, Cabinet Ministers at their weekly engagement stressed on the need to finalise the guidelines as early as possible.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga have reiterated the need to re-open borders and resume international tourism with necessary medical and health safety guidelines as soon as possible. Tourism is a catalyst industry to boost foreign exchange earnings and support livelihoods.
Industry representatives welcomed the Government’s commitment to resume tourism early as possible as well as the impending release of the health guidelines.
The re-opening and resumption under controlled conditions is to be a pilot project, success of which will encourage authorities to expand the initiative by mid-January.
Former Lankan Envoy to Moscow Udayanga Weeratunga has planned to bring in several tourist groups via chartered flights from Russia either from the weekend or early next week.
Industry sources said that the minimum stay requirement may be taken away though the initial plan was to stipulate 14 days (factoring in PCR tests and quarantine process) though even at the best of times the average stay of a tourist in Sri Lanka is only about eight days.
Health and tourism stakeholders have been working round the clock this week to put final touches to the guidelines for the pilot project to welcome the first set of international tourists since COVID-19 restrictions were imposed earlier this year.
The guidelines declared by the Health Ministry are only applicable for the pilot project under controlled conditions.
As per the previous version of the draft guidelines, arrival of tourists will be limited to a duration of one week where a minimum of 300 passengers are allowed into the country every other day and only one flight daily except for one day during this week where a maximum of two flights carrying tourists are allowed. Previously, tourism stakeholders suggested 300 passengers on a daily basis.
The Health Ministry has categorically said a health declaration for each tourist is mandatory and only the hotels identified by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) as Safe and Secure be permitted to take bookings.
In addition, COVID-19 insurance cover has been made mandatory to not burden the health system in the country. Tourists without an insurance policy must purchase a cover via the tourism app or at the time of the hotel booking or ticket purchase.
The guidelines also include mandatory PCR tests on arrival at the airport or at the resort by Health Ministry-accredited private sector hospital laboratories.
To cater to the influx of tourists, PCR testing capacity has been increased from 300 to 500 per day by private sector health providers.
Tourists will be allowed access only to sites approved by the Health Ministry with the itinerary shared with local health authorities and travel agencies managing such sites in advance.
The occupancy of hotels has been limited to a maximum of 75%. Hotel bookings from multiple flights are not permitted if check-in is on the same day and if same day different flights, hotels have to allocate separate wings for tourists until their second PCR test results. However, special circumstances, such as when family arrives on different flights, will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Source: By Charumini de Silva (DailyFT)