Since Jamaica started accepting non-nationals on June 15, more than 35,000 visitors have come to the island.
That’s according to Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett. “We expect to have another 30,000 at the end of July, and that would bring us somewhere in the region of about US$80 million in foreign exchange,” the Minister said.
Mr. Bartlett was speaking at a digital press conference on Friday, July 10. That’s the same day when new protocols came into effect for visitors. People coming into the island from high-risk areas, including four states in the United States will be tested at the airport. Screening of all others will continue.
The island’s airports and seaports were closed to all incoming travellers on March 24, as part of measures to contain the transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
“That’s a start and I must tell you that I got a video message from one of our workers the first morning that she welcomed the first guest in the hotel, and it put tears to my eyes when she said, ‘I’m excited because I have guests’, and that’s what the reopening of the sector provides,” he said.
He informed that the protocols that have been developed to safeguard workers, visitors and Jamaicans will be reviewed periodically, “to ensure our processes are safe, seamless and secure”.
