Caribbean tourism recovery punctured by new covid spike
By Kate Chappell
KINGSTON (Reuters) – Just
as tourism was beginning to
show signs of recovery, the Caribbean
has been hit by a new
wave of coronavirus infections
that is causing lockdowns and
flight cancellations and overwhelming
hospitals.
Countries including Jamaica,
Martinique, The Bahamas,
Barbados, St. Lucia, and Dominica
have seen a rise in cases
fueled by the highly contagious
Delta variant and a relaxation of
earlier restrictions. Misinformation
spread on social media has
also contributed to a low vaccine
uptake.
The Caribbean is one of the
regions most dependent on
tourism, with nine countries in
the world’s top 20, according to
an index compiled by the Inter-
American Development Bank
(IDB).
Many experienced doubledigit
declines in gross domestic
product (GDP) growth when
COVID-19 struck, drying up
tourism dollars, destroying jobs
and hurting their balance of
payments.
Since the latest wave of
COVID-19 hit Dominica and the
government ordered a lockdown
— now lifted — business has
been slow for Nahgie Laflouf,
operations manager for adventure
company Extreme Dominica
on the island of some 70,000
people.
“Things are gone back a bit
quiet,” said Laflouf, who takes
tourists hiking and rafting
among Dominica’s lush forests
and waterfalls. “They had started
to pick up before the spike.”
In August, there were four or
five tours, when they might have
had three times that before the
COVID jump, Laflouf said.
The outbreak has prompted
governments to impose restrictions
including curfews and
mandatory vaccinations as
they deal with too few hospital
beds, low levels of oxygen and
exhausted healthcare workers.
Some countries, like the Cayman
Islands, shut their borders
to tourists, but others like
Jamaica continued to welcome
them, allowing the country of 3
million people to salvage some
earnings.
“We have to double up our
efforts to manage,” Jamaican
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett
told Reuters. “The region is
now on alert to deal with visitor
hesitancy.”
YOU ALWAYS
KEEP THEM SAFE.
WITH VACCINES,
THEY’LL BE
EVEN SAFER.
CHILDREN AGES 12-17 CAN NOW BE VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19.
Get your child vaccinated for a safe return to school. Children who have been
vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to get and spread COVID-19.
Caribbean Life, S 18 EPTEMBER 17-23, 2021
The entrance to the Kingston Craft Market is seen amid the coronavirus pandemic, in
downtown Kingston, Jamaica, Sept. 2, 2021. REUTERS/Kate Chappell
Jamaica‘s foreign exchange
earnings from tourism fell $2.5
billion last year, a 74% drop from
2019, the government says.
The IDB said vaccines are
crucial to getting tourism back
to normal and forecast that
recovery to pre-pandemic levels
of economic activity could take
up until 2024 in some countries.
Vaccine rollout in the Caribbean
has been slow due to vaccine
skepticism, logistical holdups
and inadequate supply.
Jamaica has administered
enough doses to give two shots to
about 9% of the population, data
compiled by Reuters show. Since
the start of July, new COVID-19
cases more than tripled and now
stand above 69,000, while hospitalizations
have risen almost
sevenfold.
LET’S KEEP OUR CHILDREN SAFE AND OUR SCHOOLS COVID-FREE.
For more information about COVID-19 vaccines
and where to get one, visit nyc.gov/covidvaccine.
/covidvaccine
