Sichuan tourist attractions reopen during epidemic prevention period

Tourist attractions in Sichuan are gradually reopening as the government released a guidance on resuming work during the epidemic prevention and control period on Feb 20.

The guidance provided new regulations for scenic sanitary management, sightseeing, tour guide services, catering and accommodation, according to the Sichuan Tourist Scenic Spot Management Association.

The association set up strict regulations on epidemic prevention and control in scenic spot management. Prevention materials must be sufficient, and all public places and parking lots must be disinfected every day. To avoid cross-infection, tourists' vehicles need to be parked separately, with at least one empty space between.

In order to make sure scenic spots reopen in an orderly manner, scenic management centers should organize online training for staff working at tourist attractions, making sure all of them know about epidemic prevention.

Tourist service centers are also required to provide free publicity materials on the novel coronavirus in both Chinese and English, and offer medical alcohol hand sanitizer for tourists for free.

All travelers and bus drivers in scenic areas must wear a mask, and sitting separately is highly recommended. Management centers are also required to set up special trash cans for recycling used masks, with disinfection two times a day.

The association also took measures to control visitor flow, such as making tourists enter the scenic spot at different time periods, restricting to at most half of maximum capacity.

For tour guide services, tour guides must stand two meters from tourists, and using Bluetooth headsets instead of microphones is recommended.

In terms of accommodation and catering, the guidance noted hotels and restaurants are required get disinfected on a daily basis, and it's not allowed to serve wildlife dishes to customers. When having meals, people are encouraged to eat separately, with two meters of distance.

Outdoor scenic areas have reopened for tourists, while indoor places like museums, exhibition centers, theaters and swimming pools are still temporarily closed to avoid crowds.