by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:25 AM ET, Wed September 30, 2020
Officials at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are lobbying regional government officials and Caribbean-serving airlines to establish "a rigorous testing regime" at Caribbean border entry points to facilitate "the reopening of safe air travel to the Caribbean."
In a statement Tuesday, OECS officials said they are in discussions with an international company this week and expect "this will result in the establishment of PCR testing facilities at all source airports as well as cruise and ferry ports to the Caribbean."
PCR testing at airports and cruise and ferry terminals "will ensure that only travelers who are COVID-free are allowed to board and will remove the need for quarantine on arrival," officials said in a statement. They added OECS is "seeking to move quickly to facilitate safer travel for the tourism high season in October."
The group is "issuing an urgent call to the governments and other stakeholders of [Caribbean] tourism source markets to work with us in putting this solution in place and to demonstrate the viability of this approach to the safe restoration of the travel and tourism industry."
OECS officials noted, "The Anglophone Caribbean has had a strong record of effective management of the pandemic to date, with among the lowest infection rates in the world." OECS is seeking to establish PCR testing at entry points to "address the severe economic contraction in our tourism-dependent economies while ensuring the protection of our people as well as our visitors."
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