Jamaica Is Reopening for Tourism on June 15 Caribbean Journal

In a major move for the Caribbean tourism sector at large, the island of Jamaica is reopening its borders for travelers beginning June 15.

Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett announced the decision in a letter from the Ministry of Tourism to stakeholders.

Jamaica reopened its borders for the repatriation of nationals on June 1.

The reopening would make Jamaica the largest Caribbean destination to reopen its borders so far.

Saint Lucia is planning to reopen for tourism June 4, as is Antigua and Barbuda, while the United States Virgin Islands reopened for tourism on June 1.

“I congratulate Jamaica on the reopening of our borders on June 15 2020 to all international travelers,” said Adam Stewart, deputy chairman of Sandals Resorts International, the Jamaica-based resort company.

Sandals Resorts had announced plans to reopen the vast majority of its resorts in the Caribbean on June 4 (excepting its properties in The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos).

Stewart said Jamaica’s newly-developed COVID-19-focused health and safety protocols were over 100 pages.

“From transportation, restaurants, villa operators, tour providers and of course all sizes of hotels and resorts, it’s a world-class document that will guide safety for all in the hospitality sector,” Stewart said.

Bartlett said the protocols were “perhaps,the most rigorous set of protocols that could be available anywhere in the world to protect, not just the workers… but the whole country.”

While not all major air carriers have announced their plans, Southwest Airlines just said it would be relaunching some routes to Montego Bay, Jamaica’s tourism hub, beginning July 1.

And Delta Air Lines has officially revealed plans to relaunch daily flights from Atlanta to Montego Bay this month.

So what does that mean for Jamaica’s all-important tourism sector?

Bartlett recently suggested Jamaica could receive another two million visitors through the end of the year.

That would be “somewhere around 50 percent of last year, if we can have a summer start, between June and August,” he said.

Jamaican officials, led by Bartlett, have publicly stated a desire to be a force in the global tourism recovery post-COVID, even branding the new wave of travelers “Generation C.”

The region has to prepare for the “ushering in of a new era,” Bartlett said.

— CJ