FOR years, tour guide Kayon Wright has welcomed guests to the Appleton Estate Rum Experience with fist bumps and high fives. Not anymore.
“We were always big on safety but that’s been turned up a notch [since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic]. We have to be careful; our antennas have to always be high,” he tells LetsTravelCaribbean.com. “This is just a loving place and the employees are very close and friendly, so every guest that comes here feels welcome; but that interaction has changed somewhat in terms of how closely we can interact with them.”
Now the goal is to strike the right balance between making sure guests feel both welcome and safe. This is accomplished with a blend of friendly banter and strict adherence to the safety protocols. The tour is among the attractions that have earned the coveted TPDCo COVID-19 Compliance Certificate.
Wright says safety lessons learned on the job over the last 18 months have carried over into his personal life. He’s now a firm believer in the value of practising social distancing, mask-wearing and frequent cleaning of his hands.
“Before, how frequently you must sanitise and wash your hands was something we really took for granted but since the pandemic, that has also changed. We must be on point with all of that so those are some simple lessons that I take forward with me,” he tells LetsTravelCaribbean.com.
