Jamaica Tourism Minister says work in progress on protocols for tourism industry re-opening

#KINGSTON, Jamaica – May 11: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the protocol that will facilitate the reopening of the tourism industry is almost complete and will be rolled out shortly.

            “It entails a whole range of responses that the workers of the industry will have to make and also quite a bit of infrastructure adjustment that the hotels will have to make, as well as the transportation subsector,” Mr. Bartlett told JIS News.

“It will also involve some changes at the airports and the seaports. So, it’s a pretty comprehensive set of protocols covering all points of entry, as well as the experience of the visitor within the destination,” he added.

Mr. Bartlett informed that the changes will involve issues surrounding social distancing and temperature testing.

Other focus areas, he said, include “certification requirements for guests coming in at the airports… the use of beaches, swimming pools and things like that”.

“In other words, the whole business of density management is going to be a big thing and that is also tied up in social distancing,” Mr. Bartlett noted.

The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), as well as other stakeholders within the industry, is leading the development of the protocols.

“TPDCo will be responsible, primarily, because that element of it is coming under what we call destination assurance,” the Minister said.