The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has warned that the region’s economic survival is in “serious jeopardy” as the tourism-dependent economies struggle with the consequences of the pandemic and travel restrictions being imposed and considered by its most popular countries of origin for travel. CHTA welcomed the new United States administration’s balanced international travel measures, which call for returning travellers and those entering the United States to show proof of receiving a negative antigen or PCR test while not mandating quarantines but recommending self-isolation upon returning.

The organization, whose membership includes 33 of the region’s national hotel and tourism associations, expressed its appreciation and concerns in a letter to President Joseph Biden and US government officials last week in response to the administration’s call for input on international travel protocols as part of an Executive Order on the matter. In throwing its support behind requiring travellers entering the US to show proof of a negative antigen test within 72 hours of travel, CHTA cautioned against the imposition of mandatory PCR tests for travellers returning to or entering the US from the Caribbean highlighting the stringent virus containment measures already in place within the region and the region’s challenges in administering a much larger number of PCR tests.

The organization said that should this become a new requirement, it would “severely strain the current testing capacity of many Caribbean jurisdictions” citing the availability, costs and processing time as essentially rendering much of the region unable to meet local and US traveller testing demand. CHTA noted that, in recent weeks, the region has moved aggressively to increase its capacity to administer PCR and antigen tests as it aims to meet local demand and adhere to new testing requirements for travelers and returning residents to its key source markets.

  

The organization indicated should this be put in place it would be devastating to the region’s economic health and also have further ramifications on the US economy. CHTA cited the “inextricable link between the economies of the Caribbean and the United States, and Florida, in particular, which provides many of the goods and services supportive of travel to the Caribbean.