CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Motorists who have been caught by
police using cellphone while driving
will have to pay a fine of EC$500 immediately.
The Antigua and
Barbuda Ministry of
Legal Affairs said in
a statement that the
amendment to the
Vehicles and Road Traffic Amendment
Act 2018 has gone into effect making it
an offence of careless driving holding
and using a hand-held mobile device.
Regulation 4 of the Vehicles and Road
and Traffic (Mobile Devices) regulations
of 2019 permits police officers to
issue a ticket (fixed penalty) if a driver
is observed holding and using a mobile
device while driving.
It said the legislation makes it an
offence for “Individuals to view, send
or compose and electronic message”
and that police are permitted to issue
a ticket with a fixed penalty of EC$500
“If you are observed holding and using
a mobile device while driving.”
Barbados
Regional airline LIAT has resumed
direct flights from Tortola’s Terrence B
Lettsome International Airport in the
British Virgin Island to Grantley Adams
International Airport in Barbados.
The airline’s official
website said the
non-stop flights from
Tortola to Barbados
will be every Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday.
LIAT’s resumption of direct flights
to the BVI following Premier Andrew
Fahie’s recent announcement in the
House of Assembly that the BVI Airports
Authority would hold negotiations
with the airline regarding the
BVI-Barbados route.
“After witnessing a reduction in
flights to one flight per day by LIAT, on
Dec. 9, 2019, LIAT will introduce their
direct flight between Barbados and the
BVI,” Premier Fahie said at the time.
He said the reintroduction of the
early morning flight (9am) from the
BVI will be on the agenda when the
board meets with LIAT soon.
LIAT created history back in 2016
when it inaugurated the non-stop service
between the two countries in June
that year.
Caribbean
The President of the Caribbean Hotel
and Tourism Association (CHTA), Patricia
Alfonso-Dass, is predicting that 2020
will be an exciting and fruitful year for
the sector.
She said data received from CHTA
members indicates there is more to
celebrate.
The CTHA president said while there
Caribbean L 4 ife, January 17-23, 2020
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
In this Jan. 3, 2020 photo, Rose-Berline Thomas sits in a window to speak with her mother outside at their home in Canaan, a district
in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti, created for people who lost their homes in the earthquake 10 years ago. Rose-Berline Thomas was two
years old when the earthquake collapsed her family’s home on top of her, crushing her foot. See story on Page 14.
are challenges, most indicators point to
continued steady economic conditions
in “our key source markets and robust
visitor expenditures.”
Alfonso-Dass said
Caribbean hoteliers
have much to be proud
of in 2019 after taking
up the challenges of
the past 12 months.
She said that the destinations hardest
hit by the 2017 hurricanes have
made impressive progress to pre-hurricane
levels and are back on track with
new and improved products.
The CHTA president said that arrivals
throughout the region, in fact, are
very high and on pace for a record year
2019.
She said the vast majority of destinations
recorded marked increases
and the Caribbean is on pace to reach
its highest annual RevPR in history by
year-end.
Alfonso-Dass said she was also
pleased that the CHTA Education Foundation
has been organizing and offering
scholarships and special assistance for
the education and training of Caribbean
tourism industry personnel and
students pursuing tourism and hospitality
careers.
Dominica
The Dominica Employers Federation
(DEF) said that in order to comply with
demands from the public for “more
shopping hours” it would seek to have
the government amend legislation to
allow business places open on a Sunday
.T
he DEF said this
is one of the major
things that “we are
going to do in 2020
and it is not new, it
has been on the burner for a while, but
we are going to use a different strategy
to communicate that which is the business
sector thinking on how we treat
Sundays as far as employment is concerned
in this country,”
DEF executive director Achille Joseph
said that, at present Dominica has the
Public Holiday Act that declares Sundays
to be public holidays which is in
addition to the Christmas holidays, the
New Year’s, Easter and Carnival.”
He said businesses are now opening
on Sunday “but there is no law that says
otherwise.”
“We would like Sundays to be removed
from the Public Order Act so businesses
are free to open,” Joseph said.
Suriname
Guyana and Suriname have signed
a framework cooperation agreement
aimed at increasing tourism business
between the two territories and
Associated Press / Dieu Nalio Chery
enhance growth of a sustainable tourism
product that will attract more visitors
to the two Caricom countries.
Guyana Director
General of Tourism,
Donald Sinclair, said
agreement, which was
recently signed, is
being regarded as a very timely and
strategic mechanisms, coming in the
midst of preparations for the February
2020 Tourism Expo of the Guianas
which Guyana will be hosting at the
Arthur Chung Conference Center.
He said that the agreement which
was signed following two years of discussions,
speaks to a common and
shared national vision that has been
kept alive through successive administrations
in both countries.
Following the signing, officials from
the two countries met to outline the
immediate steps to activate the agreement
with the establishment of a Guyana
Suriname Tourism Cooperation
Council, to be convened within one
month of the signing, being among the
priorities.
Minister of Business Haimraj Rajkumar
signed on behalf of Guyana while
the Minister of Trade, Tourism, and
Industry, Stephen Tsang signed on
behalf of Suriname.
Continued on Page 18
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