The Andaman Tourism on November 25, 2024, issued the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Tourism at North Cinque Island.
This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlines a step-by-step guide for responsible tourism activities at North Cinque Island, focusing on visitor safety, environmental protection, and operational efficiency. It applies year-round for operators, with vessel operations subject to clearance from the Port Authorities. The SOP includes procedures for obtaining wildlife permits for vessels/ships and specifies compliance requirements for stakeholders. Operators are responsible for briefing tourists about the SOP details during their journey from Port Blair to North Cinque Island.
The purpose of framing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Cinque Island is to ensure that operations in terms of issuing wildlife permits, vessel/ship permits, vessel/ship tickets, ferrying of tourists, basic amenities and facilities, environmental protection & conservation/ waste management etc. are managed efficiently, safely and sustainably.
The highlights of the SOP are as follows:
• A Single Window System has been established at the Directorate of IP&T (Ground floor) to issue Wildlife Sanctuary Permits and allocate the number of passengers for vessels/ships operating day tourism to North Cinque Island. The system is managed by officials from the Forest Department and Directorate of Information and Publicity, ensuring permits are issued and passenger numbers are in line with the island's visitor capacity.
• The Single Window System will function from 08:30 AM to 05:00 PM (01:00 PM to 01:30 PM lunch break) during all 07 days in a week. The Wildlife Sanctuary permit fee shall be Rs 100/- per person (for Indians-i.e. 12 years and above) and for foreigners it is Rs.1000/- per person (adult)& Rs. 500/-per person (for children below 12 years). Annexure A1 & A2.
• All requisite permits and allocation of a total number of passengers to be carried by each boat/vessel/ ship for ferrying tourists to visit Cinque Island will be issued from the Single Window System. Annexure B.
• Foreign Nationals intending to visit the Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary must apply online as per the A&N Gazette Notification No. 38 dated November 29, 2022. These tourists can then book their tickets on the boat/ferry which has an adequate number of allocated seats for the visitors to Cinque Island. Link of the same has been provided on the Website of the Forest Department, Andaman and Nicobar Administration.
• The carrying capacity of a maximum of 372 people/tourists has been determined daily from 08:30 AM to 04:00 PM, for 07 days a week.
• An online feedback mechanism be put in place and collect data from tourists/customers/ stakeholders to analyses and act upon to improve services, processes etc. This will help enhance the visitor experience, address issues, and ensure continuous improvement.
