Fully vaccinated tourists will now be allowed to enter India’s North East State of SIKKIM. Ravindra Telang, the Principal Secretary, Home Department, Government of Sikkim signed an order on behalf of the state government which lays down rules effective July 5 onwards. Tourists who are inoculated with both doses of a Covid vaccine will now be allowed to enter the state without producing a negative RTPCR report.
According to the Order, all hotels, guest houses and homestays would be allowed to operate with 50 per cent capacity and the onus of adherence to Covid-19 protocol would lie with the management of the accommodations. The order also states that malls and showrooms would be permitted to operate, but strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols would have to be followed by the management of such units.
During the fiscal budget presentation in June, the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Prem Singh Tamang, who is also responsible for the finance portfolio, said that the tourism sector’s loss of more than INR 900 crore due to the Covid-19 pandemic had also greatly affected the state’s GDP.
Following the second wave and the surge in Covid cases, tourists were not allowed to enter Sikkim from March this year. At the beginning of this year, Sikkim had also announced 'Visit Sikkim 2022' as a campaign to revive the pandemic-struck tourism sector of the state.
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