Barbados is the latest Caribbean island reopening for tourism this month, allowing international visitors to return on July 12. And, when it does reopen, the island’s Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley wants you to stay for longer than a two-week vacation.
She recently announced plans to introduce a ‘12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp’ which would allow visitors to stay on the island for up to a year. The hope is that these relaxed rules will encourage people to stay longer and maybe even finish out their work-from-home days on the beach. Because, if you can take work calls from your bedroom, there’s really no reason why you couldn’t do the same from a sun lounger.
Before heading to Barbados, travelers from high-risk countries (including the United States) will need to take a test within 72 hours before departing for the island. Vacationers from countries with fewer than 100 new cases in the last seven days have one week to take a test before departure. A negative test as well as a new Embarkation/Disembarkation Card, which asks health questions, will have to be presented upon arrival. Visitors who do not take a test before departure will be required to take on upon arrival and will be quarantined at their own expense until results come in.
Once past immigration, travelers will find that businesses, beaches and parks are all open in Barbados. Although face masks are still mandatory, social distancing will be reduced to only three feet between people with a social gathering limit of 500 people.
“We want to create an environment that will allow people to come to Barbados to work, to rest, and to play from here for an extended period of time,” Mottley said in a statement.
All we need to do is find a shady patch on the sand – with really reliable wi-fi.
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