Goa will soon develop its own standard operating procedure (SOP) for tourists visiting the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday.
After attending the video conference meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Ministers over COVID-19, Sawant said that inter-state movement should be allowed in a restricted manner as neighbouring states of Karnataka and Maharashtra witnessing a spike in cases.
"We presented our situation. We also explained our economic situation that we are dependent on mining and tourism. Tourism has suffered a lot due to COVID-19. Despite that, we would want to welcome tourist post-COVID so an SOP should be decided," Sawant told .
"The state will have to develop an SOP along with the Centre to attract tourists post-COVID. We are ready but the state will have to finalise its SOP. The Centre too will have to finalise it for foreign tourists to enter the country," he added.
Presently, there is no active coronavirus case in Goa.
The Chief Minister said that the Prime Minister specifically mentioned that India is a tourist destination.
"He said that we should think of how we can grow our tourism and take advantage of the fact that the whole world is affected by COVID. He has specifically asked us to see how we can promote tourism in a post-COVID world," he said.
The meeting with the Prime Minister comes a week ahead of the scheduled ending of lockdown on May 17.
( With inputs from ANI )