Jamaica’s on-going push to increase tourist arrivals has received a much welcome boost. America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has removed the country from its Level 4 “Avoid Travel to this Destination” risk assessment.
“This is a very positive development. I want to commend our health authorities and the people of Jamaica for working to bring down the rates of COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations, which augurs well for our risk assessment rankings,” said Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett in welcoming the news. “Beyond that, the resilient corridor remains a very safe space for visitors and workers alike with comparatively high vaccination rates and extremely low infection rates.”
Jamaica is now ranked at Level 3, which urges US travellers to be fully vaccinated before travelling. Despite CDC risk assessments, Americans by and large continue to travel to destinations they want to visit.
“This is good news indeed. The previous Level 4 ranking caused jitters in some circles and was certainly not good optics,” said Senior Advisor and Strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright. “However, with this improved ranking it will be most helpful in our current and very aggressive efforts to boost tourist arrivals from all our markets.”
Bartlett is currently in the United Kingdom (UK) with a high-level team from the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) participating in World Travel Market, one of the largest international tourism trade shows in the world.
The engagements in the UK end a global markets blitz which included Jamaica’s two largest source markets, the United States and Canada, and reaped massive successes in dramatically boosting airlift to the island and reassuring stakeholders on the COVID-related safety of the destination. The tourism minister also led engagements in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which in part will result in the opening of tourism and investment opportunities for Jamaica.
Source: Ministry of Tourism