Tourism Minister Hon Dominic Fedee says Saint Lucia will be extremely meticulous in its approach to accepting tourist arrivals.
Fedee’s comments fall against the backdrop of 39 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Antigua.
According to reports out of Antigua, all the cases are believed to be imported.
Among the new imported cases are returning nationals who were recently repatriated from the Dominican Republic.
Antigua was one of the first islands in the Caribbean to reopen its borders to tourists following several months under lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few other islands followed suit including Jamaica and Saint Lucia.
“We’ve always been saying that this is not a time for us to open in a manner that is schizophrenic but in a manner that is very calculated, measured and very clinical and that’s what we have been doing to make sure that we spare no effort to be meticulous and make sure we scrutinize every single detail so that we protect the health and safety of the Saint Lucian people,” Fedee declared.
Fedee says despite the strict protocols one must undergo in order to travel amid the pandemic, Saint Lucia remains in high demand.
“People are booking closer to the travel date,” he continued, “People are fed up with lockdowns and people are claustrophobic being in a concrete jungle, being in quarantine there is an appetite by a growing number of vacation seekers to want to go to a place where they can travel.”
He did confirm that there are tourists currently on island, staying at local resorts.
“I think we have a couple that have been given permission, we have special arrangements through the CMO (Chief Medical Officer) where people are given permission to enter Saint Lucia under very special and strict guidelines so we would have some tourists who would have agreed to a quarantine situation.”
According to the Minister, the health and safety of the citizens are of paramount importance.
