We'll come back to Kerala, say European tourists before returning home amid lockdown

“Kerala is not just God's Own Country. There's more to the land… something that pulls others to it. We're off to our lands now. But we will be back”, said a bunch of travellers from Europe before boarding a Frankfurt-bound flight from Thiruvananthapuram airport. They were thanking and bidding bye to cops and officials of the Tourism Department.

The motley crowd of 232 tourists drawn from various European countries was heading for Germany in a special Air India flight after they got stuck in Kerala in the wake of the lockdown the state and the country were brought under. They were able to fly from Thiruvananthapuram as the German Consulate stepped in to arrange a special flight. While 180 of them were German citizens, the rest were from Italy, Poland, Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal and Australia.

The tourists completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine and had taken the COVID-19 detection test before they were allowed to fly out. It was the Tourism Department that brought the tourists, stuck in various districts, to the capital city. They were given accommodation in KTDC's hotels where they completed their registrations.

Though they were brought to the airport in special vehicles, they had to undergo all the compulsory tests before they were allowed to board. The pilots as well as the cabin crew, clad in their special protective gear, received the tourists in. The flight had a brief fuel stop-over in Mumbai before heading off to Frankfurt.