Photo: Pixabay

By Frank Martin

Some of the so-called Trave Bubbles that financially speaking helped tourist destinations around the world, including some Caribbean islands during Covid-19 epidemic.

This is a somewhat strange mechanism that demonstrates the human (and enterprise) tendency to seek innovations.

That kind of search is crucial in nowadays tourism visibly destructive stage.

Like other countries and regions, the Caribbean island of Barbados used “bubbles” it to limit without quarantine tourists from countries considered important.

The Barbados s clients offer is to enjoy certain vacation time without risking the tedium of prolonged confinements with no risk for stability of tourist destinations.

Nevertheless, Barbados since Wednesday September 8 has “discontinued” the travel bubble.

“The decision to interrupt it was due to the increase in positivity rates and cases in many of our sister countries in the Caribbean,” Barbados Medical Director Dr. Kenneth George told reporters.

He explained that originally “the bubble was implemented to provide smoother travel to tourists from countries that were considered low risk.”

However, during the two-week period before the bubble was suspended, COVID levels and infection rates increased.

The experience has not been only for Barbados. These limited but not cloistered areas have been dedicated to fully vaccinated travelers who made it to Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Anguilla, Montserrat and Bonaire, among other Caribbean islands, freeing them from long and boring overly closed stays.

. CARICOM has collaborated with countries in other regions such as Canada and the United Kingdom to coordinate recovery support.

And Travel Bubbles has been a great help in that goal.

However, the resistance of the virus and its outbreaks have determined other closures of bubble areas in other latitudes,

On the other side of the world, another very important tourist destination, New Zealand revealed this month that it will stop its quarantine-free travel agreement with Australia, where the fight against an outbreak of highly infectious variant Delta virus is currently severe.

Whether some burst like soap bubbles or not, Travel Bubble’s success as a rare quarantine-free deal has acted as a lifeline amid a sea of ​​losses.

New Zealand government defended their move stating that “we have always said that our response would evolve as the virus evolved.”

“This is not a decision that we have made lightly, but it is the right decision to keep New Zealanders safe,” he added.

Another official criterion is that of the island of Santa Lucia where the system with special characteristics works.

Travelers arriving on the island must present a certificate with the negative result of a PCR test that has been issued no later than seven days before the start of the trip.

Travelers who have spent the last 21 days inside the bubble for travelers will be able to move freely throughout the island, although they must stay inside a hotel in this bubble that has been approved.

All other visitors must spend a minimum of 14 days in certified accommodation and can only participate in activities that are on a strict list of sanitary measures.

FM