By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 16th April 2021) — Minister of Tourism Lindsay Grant told a Tourism Stakeholders’ Meeting held on Wednesday 14th April 2021 at the Marriott Hotel that a 100% immunity in the tourism sector must be achieved, and that cruise ships will begin calling to St. Kitts and Nevis in June 2021 on a phased basis.
“We must achieve a 100% immunity in the tourism sector … and this is the only way to balance what we all crave for and I crave for — and that’s to get vaccinated,” Grant told local stakeholders. He announced that any purveyor of the tourism industry will have to be vaccinated and sanctioned by the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, and all staff who come into contact with cruise ship passengers will have to be vaccinated. All cruise ship passengers over the age of 18 must be vaccinated; children under 18 must present a negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours prior to disembarkation.
Grant was clear that vaccination is not being made mandatory in law: “We are not making vaccination mandatory; we are saying to you that as a policy, we are asking employers to make sure that their employees are vaccinated.” Staff who do not take the vaccination will be required to take an RT-PCR test at their own cost every two weeks. Taxi and tour operators and attraction owners must bear the cost of testing, quarantine and isolation of their staff.
Grant pointed to the neighbouring island of Anguilla, which through changed protocols and a significant vaccination rate has seen an almost normal state of affairs return. “Everything really hinges on the vaccination. This is our first step to reviving what we consider to be a very critical industry and so we are expecting that vaccinated tours and attractions are our pathway and our attractor to hopefully full recovery,” he said. A vaccination clinic was arranged at Port Zante for tourism workers in the area, including retail shop staff, restaurant and bar workers, Amina Craft Market vendors, Port Zante Security and Island Constables.