Kerala's tourism sector, battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, is slowly but surely limping back to normalcy as few resorts, including CGH Earth's Coconut Lagoon, have reopened their gates to welcome travellers to Kumarakom, a popular tourist destination in Kottayam district.
The resorts that have restarted their operations will follow COVID-19 protocol issued by the government. As many as 30 hotels and resorts in Kumarakom had downed their shutters from March 10 following the coronavirus scare.
Though the reopened resorts have not yet started reservation services, tourists are expected by the end of this week. In the first phase, the booking will be taken only from travellers within Kerala.
The resorts will adhere to all the guidelines issued by the central and state governments, said K Arun Kumar, secretary of Chamber of Vembanad Hotels and Resorts, and G Shambu, general manager of Coconut Lagoon. All tourists will have to undergo thermal scanning before entering the resorts and their bags and mobile phones will be sanitized. And those with symptoms of fever will be taken to the medical division.
Hygiene is paramount and a room will be allotted to any tourist only 24 hours after the previous guest has vacated the room. All the rooms will be sanitized using disinfectant machines.
The employees will wear protective gear as per the COVID-19 protocol. They will also be given requisite training on how to be safe at the workplace. More resorts are expected to be opened in the immediate future.
Though the hotels and resorts were closed, the workers were cleaning the facilities on a daily basis.