A good news for travel enthusiasts as the Himalayan state Sikkim will be reopening for tourists.
Recently, the Sikkim government announced that the state will allow hotels, home-stays and other tourism related services to restart operations from October 10. As per reports, the state has also decided to open its borders with West Bengal from 1st October for unrestricted movement of vehicles.
The travel operators, service providers and hotels will have to register themselves in an online portal. They will be able to operate once they are selected by the Tourism department. The paneled units will have a customized sticker or standee displayed or hoisted for identification.
Tourists visiting Sikkim will have to book accommodation units and all transport and other services only from empanelled tour operators and service providers. They will have to fill up a form in the official tourism portal of the state. Once the form is filled up, the tourist will have to download a Travel Card to be shown at the entry point Rangpo/ Melli. The state government has instructed the tourists to carry this card all the time as they may be asked to produce it for verification.
The tourists will also have to produce a covid negative certificate issued by an ICMR registered testing center not older than 72 hours prior to entry into the state.
Although the state is restarting tourism activities, Lachung will not be opening its doors for tourists till November 30. Lachung in North Sikkim is administered by a traditional system self governance Dzumsa. In a report, the Lachung Dzumsa stated that Lachung lies on the remotest area of the state and is not equipped with proper medical amenities to cope with Covid-19.
Lachung is one of the favorite tourist destination in Sikkim and witnesses a huge footfall of travelers.
(Feature image source: Manbendra Dey)
