An image is being shared on social media, claiming to show a circular by the Ministry of Tourism, announcing the closure of all hotels, restaurants and resorts in the country till October 15, 2020, due to COVID-19.
This claim is false; the Press Information Bureau (PIB) clarified on April 8 that no such order was issued by the Tourism Ministry. "Be cautious of #Fake order claiming that hotels/restaurants will remain closed till 15th October 2020 due to #Coronavirusoutbreak," PIB said in a tweet.
Be cautious of #Fake order claiming that hotels/resturants will remain closed till 15th October 2020 due to #Coronavirusoutbreak.#PIBFactCheck: The order is Fake and has NOT been issued by Ministry of Tourism.
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) April 8, 2020
Do not believe in rumours! pic.twitter.com/efRx3PWTj0
The circular contains an image of the Ashok Stambh with the words "Ministry of Tourism, Government of India" written along side it. It has the following text written below the logos:
"As order by the tourism govt. of India the information came that all tourism department of India. Hotels, restaurants, resorts all over India will remain closed til 15-october 2020 due to coronavirus disease spread all over the world. The order directly came from India tourism department. And most important north Indian hotels, resort, restaurants will closed till the date. If any incase found the case will filed on that owner. For more information login to indiantourism.org. (sic)"
The circular is riddled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Also, while the circular is seemingly from the Ministry of Tourism, it repeatedly states the "order came from Indian tourism department", which is self-explanatory in regular announcements made by ministries. BOOM also visited the website mentioned (indiatourism.org) and found that the domain name is non-existent.
The fake announcement has been in circulation for the past week on social media and WhatsApp. BOOM had previously received the image on its WhatsApp helpline number.