Last week Paola Raineri, senior vice president of public relations for Dominican Republic hospitality giant Puntacana Group, proclaimed the local tourism industry's recovery from two years of pandemic-driven leisure travel upheaval.
Raineri called the Dominican Republic tourism's recovery from the 2020 travel shutdowns "extraordinary," adding, "The results can be seen in the numbers presented monthly by the Ministry of Tourism. The arrival of tourists is in full recovery in the DR."
Throughout the pandemic, Caribbean destinations have been among the most effective globally at instituting and maintaining strict, science-based COVID entry protocols. Several regional destinations, including Aruba (79 percent), the British Virgin Islands (61 percent), Antigua and Barbuda (64 percent) and Curacao (78 percent) also maintain significant vaccination levels among residents.
The high vaccination levels and rigid health guidelines for land-based and cruise ship visitors in the Caribbean have led to the continued easing of entry protocols across several destinations.
At the same time, some Caribbean countries and citizens have been at the forefront of vaccine hesitancy and even anti-vaccination protests. As in other nations, including our own, disease-fighting science has been obscured by political oratory.
Indeed, I find it curious that in some domestic and international municipalities that also hosted visitors, from Florida to Mexico, vaccine requirements and COVID protocols went largely absent. People (and governments) in those places have continued on the same path since.
In fact, while the Dominican Republic maintained detailed entry protocols following the March 2020 outbreak, the country was also among the earliest to end entry testing in hopes of luring travelers, even extending free travel insurance to visitors.
In fact, Peter Cerdá, the International Air Transport Association ( IATA)'s regional vice president for the Americas, told Dominican Today that travel to Mexico and the Dominican Republic have recovered "because even today no type of antigen test or PCR is required," and travelers are not required to submit proof of vaccination.
"[The countries] are operating as if they were under normal conditions, allowing for a much faster recovery," said Cerdá.
To be clear, I believe firmly that everyone should be vaccinated. The COVID pandemic is a global health crisis that requires all of us who are capable, unless otherwise informed by a recognized health professional, to protect ourselves and others. It's through vaccination that we've reached the point we're at today, where we can again travel widely, albeit with some restrictions.
At the same time, I can't help but be a bit unsettled to observe how life has continued, seemingly without evidence of the last two years' struggle, in places that continue to host visitors.
Were these people and places, however misguided in my view, somehow on the right track? Do they feel the same pain of absence and loss we've all felt in the wake of this terrible episode? I'm not sure of the answers.
Also, who can say how much further removed we could be from the pandemic's darkest days had more countries, cities and individuals agreed to vaccination?
As anyone knows, I'm no doctor. Yet the way I see it, the same science that cured other dreaded human diseases was applied in the same way this time around (albeit perhaps with greater urgency). I'm sure I'll never understand exactly why so many people found themselves on the other side of reason.
Fortunately, most signs point to continued improvement and further easing of travel protocols. Most of us who participate in and cover the travel industry certainly know what the last two years have cost us. Less easily determined is where we might be today had some things been different.
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