KOCHI: The Tourism Department and Ernakulam District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) have collected details about 90 foreign tourists who arrived in the district from China and neighbouring countries as part of the precautionary steps against the spread of novel coronavirus (nCoV). The DTPC and tourism officials contacted hotels and homestays and collected the details about foreign tourists who had arrived from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
D Kamalamma, Deputy Director, Kerala Tourism, said from Sunday, DTPC and tourism department started collecting details about the tourists who have been staying in hotels and homestays in the district. “We have collected the details about 90 tourists who were in the district from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia till Monday. A majority of them are from China. Most of them left China before the outbreak of coronavirus. They reached Kochi after visiting other states. The number of tourists from China and other countries is likely to change as some hotels and homestays have failed to report to the department,” she said.
Directions have been given to hotels and homestays to report the arrival of tourists from China and neighbouring countries immediately. Similarly, directions have been given on precautions to be taken while serving guests from these countries. “Tourists from China and neighbouring countries will be served food at the hotel rooms. They are requested to stay in the rooms. Screening of tourists arriving from China is taking place at airports,” said S Vijaya Kumar, DTPC secretary.
On Monday, a Chinese tourist who arrived at a homestay in Fort Kochi was denied a room. Later, Tourism Police arrived at the scene and Chinese tourists decided to leave the place. “The incident has not come to our notice. The tourism department has not given any direction to vacate or deny rooms to tourists from China. Directions are given to take necessary precautions,” Vijaya Kumar said.
Following the detection of coronavirus cases in the state, foreign tourists have been cancelling their tour programmes to Kerala. Homestay owners are worried that their business will be hit badly. “This is the peak time of foreign tourist arrivals in Fort Kochi. However, as three nCoV cases have been confirmed in the state, tour cancellations have increased for the past two days. As several European countries have directed their citizens against travelling to countries where coronavirus cases have been detected, our business will be affected. Apart from foreign tourists, cancellation of domestic tour bookings were also reported. It is a huge setback for the industry which was recovering from the nipah outbreak and flood,” said M P Sivadathan, director of Kerala State Homestay and Tourism Society.