Jamaica has been downgraded from level 3 to level 2 on the United States Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) travel recommendations ranking system. The decision comes in recognition of efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19.
This new classification places the destination in a risk category lower than that of more than 70 percent of countries worldwide. Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has expressed his satisfaction at this new classification.
He noted that it will undoubtedly positively affect the number of visitors traveling to the island from the United States during the winter tourist season. Under the CDC update, US citizens should be fully vaccinated before traveling to destinations which have the level two designation.
The CDC suggests that unvaccinated travellers who are at an increased risk of developing severe illnesses from Covid-19 should avoid unnecessary travel to these locations. A level three country, however, has a high Covid-19 prevalence, and travellers must ensure that they are fully vaccinated prior to travel. Unvaccinated travellers should abstain from unnecessary travel to these locations.
Jamaica is on track to receive over 1.5 million visitors by the end of 2021. With a strong start to the winter tourist season, tourism officials also anticipate that the country will reach pre-pandemic levels of arrivals by the third quarter of 2023.
