India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (ITDC), a public sector undertaking (PSU), under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has signed an MOU with AIIMS, New Delhi to come together and monitor the situation to prevent COVID-19 infection and implement preventive measures that can be taken up by ITDC across its hotels and offices to provide a safe, hygienic and healthy environment to guests and staff. Talking about the MoU Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture said, “The MoU between ITDC and AIIMS to fight the COVID 19 battle is a commendable and appreciable step taken by ITDC. We need to win over our fear & do everything possible in order to revive the tourism industry, which is one of the key contributors to the country’s GDP. This move by ITDC would be helpful in rebuilding trust & confidence of international as well as domestic tourists.” “The ongoing pandemic has had a severe impact on the travel and tourism industry. The MoU with AIIMS, New Delhi will help us in monitoring the situation and take necessary measures to fight the pandemic. The tourism sector contributes immensely towards the creation of jobs, as well as the GDP of India, it is imperative to ensure preparedness and readiness of the sector in order to gear it back into action.” the minister added. To take this forward an advisory board will be formed consisting of representatives from AIIMS, ITDC and/or representative from any other organisation to provide inputs on designing and developing the safety Protocols with respect to COVID-19 infection, based on existing and ongoing situation as well as on real time basis. This would help in instilling trust and confidence in domestic tourism and also help in image building of the nation for international tourists and travellers. These measures are in addition to following guidelines issued by Govt of India as well as extensive training provided to more than 1000 employees of hotel in areas of Front Office, Guest Relation, House Keeping, F&B etc. to effectively handle the situation.
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