Darjeeling: Vaccination certificate or -ve report must for tourists

Darjeeling: With surge in Covid-19 cases in Darjeeling Hills and with the return of tourists, the district administration has issued an advisory to the hotels and home-stays.

"We have advised all the hotels and home-stays in the Darjeeling Hills to allow or take bookings from persons only after ascertaining either RTPCR negative status (not less than 72 hours) or double dose vaccination certificate," stated an official.

Incidentally the number of fresh cases in the Darjeeling district was more than Kolkata on Tuesday. The day saw Kolkata recording 77 fresh cases and Darjeeling district 89 cases.

"We welcome the advisory from the district administration. It will ensure safety for both the clients and the staff. We have to ensure the safety of our staff also. They are working in a vulnerable condition. We have not been allowing persons who have not been vaccinated," stated Rajesh Rajak, Hotelier.

Off late tourists from bordering Bihar and Jharkhand have been driving up to Darjeeling along with tourists from within the State.

Every year 8 lakh domestic and 40,000 foreign tourists visit the Darjeeling Hills.

"We have approached the Government to vaccinate all the tourism related stakeholders including drivers and their families on a priority basis. The Government is doing so. This will benefit both the guests and the hosts. North Bengal is known as a tourist friendly destination so we need a general stricture and not single out tourists alone," stated Raj Basu, Convenor, Association for Conservation and Tourism (ACT.)

In the second wave, the rural areas of the Hills have been badly affected.

This includes tourist destinations like Mirik, Bijanbari, Sukhipokhari and Tukdah. The Block Development Officers and police authorities have held meetings with home-stay owners in these areas to ensure safe tourism.

"Darjeeling District Police requires that all tourists should mask up" was the message from the Darjeeling Police.