Ahead of the exciting summer season, the Government of Barbados has announced a key change to its travel protocols. Effective Wednesday, May 25, 2022, fully-vaccinated travellers to Barbados will no longer have to take a COVID-19 test to enter the country.
In a press conference on Saturday, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley advised that the change comes as over 70 percent of the eligible population in Barbados is fully vaccinated. She added that removing the entry test will have positive implications for the country’s tourism experience, including speedier processing times at the Grantley Adams International Airport.
Offering a brief update about the position of the country’s tourism industry, she said that “We had a ninety percent decline in the number of visitors… in the last two years. [Now] we are significantly on our way back up.”
With the removal of the entry test, Barbados remains competitive in the global tourism landscape, and tourism officials are confident that it will be well received by travellers in its source markets at a critical time as they are making their summer and winter holiday plans.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Senator the Hon. Lisa Cummins, spoke on the significance of the update to the travel protocols, commenting that “What this signals to our travellers is that it is safe for them to come to Barbados, and we are in a position where we can comfortably accommodate many of the same measures they are experiencing at home, such as the protocols for mask wearing and testing for certain activities.”
Masks optional outdoors
The change in protocols also states that masks will now only be mandatory indoors and on public transportation. Outdoors, masks are optional.
Unvaccinated travellers
Prime Minister Mottley noted that the changes announced pertain to vaccinated travellers only. Currently, unvaccinated travellers will still be required to present a negative COVID-19 test to enter Barbados.
For more information on Barbados’ travel protocols, visit www.barbadostravelprotocols.com.
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For more information on Barbados, please contact Ali Finnegan ali@travelmedia.ie
About Barbados
The island of Barbados offers a unique Caribbean experience steeped in rich history and colourful culture, and rooted in remarkable landscapes. Barbados is the home of two of the three remaining Jacobean Mansions left in the Western hemisphere, as well as fully functional rum distilleries. In fact, this island is known as the birthplace of rum, commercially producing and bottling the spirit since the 1700s. Each year, Barbados hosts several world-class events including the annual Barbados Food and Rum Festival; the annual Barbados Reggae Festival; and the annual Crop Over Festival, where celebrities such as Lewis Hamilton and its very own Rihanna are often spotted. Accommodations are wide and varied, ranging from picturesque plantation houses and villas to quaint bed and breakfast gems; prestigious international chains; and award-winning five-diamond resorts. In 2018, Barbados’ accommodation sector captured 13 awards in the Top Hotels Overall, Luxury, All-Inclusive, Small, Best Service, Bargain, and Romance categories of the ‘Traveler’s Choice Awards’. And getting to paradise is a breeze: the Grantley Adams International Airport offers plenty non-stop and direct services from a growing number of U.S., U.K., Canadian, Caribbean, European, and Latin American gateways, making Barbados the true gateway to the Eastern Caribbean. Visit Barbados and experience why for two years in a row it won the prestigious Star Winter Sun Destination Award at the ‘Travel Bulletin Star Awards’ in 2017 and 2018. For more information on travel to Barbados, visit www.visitbarbados.org, follow on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/VisitBarbados, and via Twitter @Barbados.