New COVID test requirements bad for Caribbean tourism – Bartlett

WESTERN BUREAU:

A new mandatory COVID-19 test requirement introduced by the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) is about to further sink the Caribbean’s dismal arrival numbers.

The new protocol, effective January 7, requires that all persons, both citizens and visitors alike, entering both countries by air, present negative test results to either facilitate entry or to avoid self-quarantine.

However, with the limitations of accessing PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests in the region, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, is predicting that the non-discriminatory manner in which the new requirement is being applied will undoubtedly set back the recovery of small vulnerable destinations globally, especially those that have made considerable efforts to successfully bolster their health and safety standards to insulate tourists from the risk of COVID-19 infection.

The tourism minister says any hope for a semblance of an uptick during the highly anticipated winter tourism season has effectively been crippled by the latest responses from two of the region’s major source markets. Along with the United States (US), Canada and the UK account for up to 70 per cent of all tourist arrivals in the Caribbean.

And Bartlett has got support from the group representing 33 hotel associations throughout the region, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), which has also called on the Canadian authorities to reconsider the decision.

“The rules will strain an already stressed Caribbean public health system and cause further damage to the region’s economy,” CHTA acting Chief Executive Officer and Director General, Vanessa Ledesma, stated.

“This policy is creating challenges and places even greater economic hardship on the people and governments of the Caribbean and on the thousands of Canadians currently in the Caribbean who are scheduled to return home in the coming weeks,” she added.

The mere announcement of the policy has resulted in a rash of cancellations by Canadians who had been scheduled to travel to the region, Ledesma observed, further harming the already fragile businesses and economies and keeping more employees from returning to work.

She said that while CHTA recognises that the policy is intended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Canada, the region’s stakeholders are committed to the health and safety of residents and travellers, and this is best demonstrated by the COVID-19 protocols and containment measures which are in place throughout the Caribbean. This also includes the thousands of tourism employees who have undergone health safety training conducted by CHTA and its health safety partners, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).