Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 11, 2021 (SKNIS): Minister of Tourism, Transport and Ports, the Honourable Lindsay Grant praised the Ministry of Tourism and St. Kitts Tourism Authority for their tireless efforts in rebuilding the tourism sector.
In his conference on January 10, Minister Grant explained that in 2020, the global community was tossed into great uncertainty with the economies dismantled as a result of the COVID-19 virus.
He said, however, “With the introduction of vaccines, health and safety protocols, and our travel approved programme, we were able to reopen our destination on October 31st , 2020 after its closure in March 2020.”
Minister Grant added that “Over the past few months, we have made great strides in our rebuilding efforts with the return of our major air carriers and cruise line partners.”
“Although our phased approach to rebuilding our sector attracted some scepticism it did prove to be successful in rebuilding confidence from our trade partners and our potential visitors,” he said.
“The implementation of our health and safety protocols and the nation’s successful vaccination rollout, which has resulted in the vaccination of some 81.5 % of our adult target population has been critical to our efforts,” Minister Grant said.
He added that by removing the quarantine for fully vaccinated passengers arriving by air and reintroducing free flow for fully vaccinated crews on Saturday, December 11, 2021, it placed the destination in a more competitive space and encourage travellers to travel to the Federation.
Along with the removal of quarantine for fully vaccinated passengers, the Government also removed the protective barriers that were erected at Port Zante based on science and following the advice of local health experts.
The health authorities have advised that the Omicron variant appears to be less severe than the Delta variant. Based on the scientific knowledge of the Omicron variant and the high vaccination coverage in St. Kitts and Nevis, the health authorities recommended that these measures can be implemented with minimal risks.