Another Caribbean destination is reopening for tourism — the Turks and Caicos Islands, which has officially announced it will reopen its borders on July 22. 

Turks and Caicos Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson announced the move, which will come with a series of new protocols addressing “stringent standards, trainings, and personal protective equipment, among other necessary measures.”

Those protocols will be announced in the coming weeks, she said. 

In a statement, the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board said it “encourages travelers to consider the vacation destination as the play vacations for late July 2020 onwards.”

“We are eager and excited to reopen our borders and safely welcome travelers back to the picturesque Turks and Caicos Islands later this summer,” said Pamela Ewing, Director of Tourism for the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board. “In the meantime, we are taking every precaution to ensure the Islands are safe and to enhance the exceptional experience and care afforded by the destination and our world-class hospitality partners.  Our intention is to cautiously reboot the tourism sector, laying the foundation for short- and long-term recovery.”

Flight service will resume from the United States, Canada and Europe to Turks and Caicos “as soon as the destination is ready,” officials said. 

Private jet terminals will also reopen on July 22, along with Providenciales International Airport. 

Villas, hotels and resorts, restaurants and tour operators are working on finalizing protocols, the Tourist Board said. 

The Grand Turk Cruise Center will remain closed until at least Aug. 31, 2020, however. 

For more, visit Turks and Caicos Tourism. 

— CJ

The post Turks and Caicos to Reopen for Tourism July 22 appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Guyana has drafted a four-stage blueprint for the reopening of the country’s airports. 

The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority has submitted the plan for review with the country’s National COVID-19 Task Force. 

Guyana’s airports have been closed since the early stages of the pandemic. 

The first phase is the planning stage, followed by the resumption of regional travel. 

“Our third phase is really now expanding [the reopening] some more- taking in foreign nationals and this phase runs right through like between August and December,” said Lt. Col. Egbert Fieldm Director General of the GCAA. 

The fourth phase would see an extension of the airports’ reopening into 2021, with what officials called a “possible resumption to normalcy in the aviation sector.”

— CJ

The post Guyana Considers “Phased Reopening” of Airports appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Southwest Airlines is planning to relaunch a number of routes as the Caribbean begins opening up once again for tourism, the carrier said. 

While the launches are dependent on each individual destination’s reopening plans, Southwest Airlines said it would be resuming service to destinations in both Mexico and the Caribbean. 

For now, Southwest plans to resume service to Havana, Cuba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Nassau, The Bahamas beginning July 1. 

It should be noted that those Caribbean destinations have not yet officially announced when they will be reopening their borders.

In Mexico, Southwest also plans to resume service to Cancun, along with flights to San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos. 

“Southwest continues to monitor conditions in 14 international destinations on the carrier’s network map and update operational plans,” the company said in a statement.

The flights are available for purchase on the company’s Web site, Southwest said in a statement. 

It will not be a complete relaunch however — routes will be limited, however, according to an analysis by Caribbean Journal.

For example, Southwest will be operating flights from Baltimore-Washington to Montego Bay, and Nassau — not from its growing Caribbean-focused hub in Fort Lauderdale. 

Havana flights will be operated out of Tampa, Fla.

The move comes as other carriers have begun to resume service to the Caribbean, most notably Delta Air Lines, which is set to resume a wave of routes to the Caribbean in June. 

So far, the only Caribbean destinations that officially plan to reopen are the United States Virgin Islands, which is planning to open June 1; Saint Lucia, which has announced a June 4 reopening; and Aruba, which has announced plans to reopen sometime in the second half of June.

For more, visit Southwest. 

— CJ

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