All five of the Caribbean countries offering the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme have now committed to participating in the CARICOM Travel Bubble.
The island of Dominica was the latest country to announce its participation and will join eight other Caribbean islands, including all the other Caribbean countries offering the citizenship by investment programme – Saint Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Antigua & Barbuda.
The Travel Bubble includes countries that have demonstrated considerable success in containing and combating the Covid-19 pandemic within their respective borders.
Saint Kitts & Nevis, which will not be reopening its borders to international tourists until October, has had just 17 reported cases with no deaths, while Dominica, which recently reopened its borders to global tourists, has reported 20 cases and no deaths. Saint Lucia has had 26 cases and no deaths and Grenada, 24 cases and no deaths. Antigua & Barbuda has been most affected with 94 cases, and three deaths.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders recently met to discuss the arrangements that would allow their nationals, including those who have gained citizenship via the CBI programme, to enter Caribbean countries without taking the various tests for the coronavirus pandemic.
It was deemed that infected persons in these jurisdictions were sufficiently low so as not to cause a threat, although citizens of these CARICOM countries, upon entry, will be made to undergo non-invasive temperature tests.
This means travellers within the designated Travel Bubble can reconnect with family and friends and visitors within these bubble countries with a travel history from these areas in the last 21 days will be exempt from quarantine, however they are subject to mandatory screening on arrival.
According to Colin Piper, Dominica’s director of tourism and deputy coordinator for the reopening of borders, the travel bubble would enable travellers from nations that have effectively tackled the spread of the pandemic to visit Dominica more easily. What is of particular importance “ is that the pre-arrival requirement to undertake the PCR Test within 72 hours is absent” explains Piper, and so allows “travellers from the CARICOM Travel Bubble greater ability and flexibility in making plans to book a trip”.
Dominica reopened its borders to international visitors from August 7, though tests and a travel screening questionnaire are mandatory, and two hotels have been issued with a Covid Certificate approval: Secret Bay Resorts and Cabrits Resport & Spa Kempinski, both of which are approved under Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Programme.