K-P govt issues guidelines for reopening tourism

Hotel owners to ensure implementation of SOPs

PESHAWAR: The provincial government on Monday issued a list of guidelines to safely reopen the lucrative tourism industry of the province while preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

The National Tourism Board (NTB) has drafted the new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

All stakeholders, including restaurant and hotel owners, have been directed to ensure the implementation of SOPs or else face strict action.

Under the new guidelines, it has been deemed mandatory for all tourists to wear face masks and keep sanitizers.

Owners of hotels, where visitors will stay, will have to ensure physical distancing inside their premises. Staffers will have to wear protective suits.

All accommodation facilities will feature pamphlets with directions on how the pandemic can be prevented. Keeping a sanitiser at the hotel reception has been deemed mandatory as well.

Hotels which have a lift will have to sanitise its buttons and door handles after every trip. Any gymnasiums or swimming pools in the hotels will remain closed. Drivers ferrying the passengers from their accommodations to tourist spots will have to wear face masks and gloves as well.

The body temperature of each visitor will be checked before they are granted entry to a tourist spot. Further, the government will examine visitors whose body temperatures are found to be higher than the normal range at the time of screening. If needed, these visitors could be quarantined.

Moreover, tour operators will note the necessary details of visitors, including their CNIC, phone numbers, and addresses. Tour operators will also be required to provide visitors with a booklet on precautionary measures.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2020.