Tobago Chamber: Outline covid19 protocols for foreigners

The Tobago Business Chamber has called for more specifics from the Prime Minister on covid19-related guidelines for foreigners wishing to visit Trinidad and Tobago when borders reopen on July 17.

At a news conference on Saturday, Dr Rowley said TT citizens or legal residents abroad who are fully vaccinated with a World Health Organization-approved vaccine, and who present a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours before arrival, will be allowed to enter TT without hindrance.

Citizens abroad who are unvaccinated must present a negative PCR test – not older than 72 hours – before entery and undergo mandatory state-supervised quarantine for 14 days.

Rowley said foreigners who are unvaccinated will not be allowed to enter TT at this time.

In a WhatsApp voice note on Monday, the chamber’s president Martin George said while the association remains “cautiously optimistic” about the reopening of the borders, it still had concerns about the provisions, “given the fact that it seems that the prime minister has not specifically addressed the issue of foreign visitors and how they are going to treat with them.

“So we would like to know if foreigners wish to come here, what is the protocol? What is the procedure, the steps they need to take? We need to have some clarity in terms of that.”

He said there was no mention of plans to reopen restaurants and bars.

“Visitors are not going to come if you have no restaurants, no bars, no beaches.

So, he said, the reopening of borders "appears illusory, as a carrot being offered by the Prime Minister, it really lacks the substance, because of the fact that the other sectors of the economy are not open.

“We have said repeatedly it appears to make little sense to talk about reopening your borders when the majority of the country remains shut down. The country remains under a state of emergency – under a curfew.”

He argued that reopening the borders is not likely to bring anything substantial for the Tobago business sector.

“We need much more than this.”