Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos de Cuba (CMSC) is getting ready to promote Cuba as a medical travel destination to new foreign patients, with the reopening of the country’s borders. CMSC is a state company that bundles the 16 Cuban institutions that provide more than 100 types of health services to foreign individuals on the island, ranging from cancer treatment and drug addiction … [Read more...]
Vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers are going to different sets of Caribbean islands
Adina Eigen took her first trip to the British Virgin Islands in December 2020. Around that time, it had one of the world’s lowest Covid rates among islands that had reopened. The 42-year-old mother of four from Sands Point, New York, has since returned twice, checking infection rates — and vaccination statistics — before her trips. “The staff at Oil Nut Bay is entirely … [Read more...]
Caribbean Tourism: Is the lure of the beach enough?
Sometime in the next 12 months, when the pandemic is fully brought under control in North America and Europe, visitors will return to the Caribbean in significant numbers. Once that begins to happen, governments, conscious of tourism’s ability to drive rapid GDP growth, will encourage the fastest possible restoration of pre-pandemic arrival levels. This is understandable, but begs two … [Read more...]
Bahamas credits health visa for tourism rebound
The Bahamas government says the tourism industry is showing signs of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, having issued nearly 300,000 Bahamas Travel Health Visas to visitors seeking entry over the first five months of this year. Tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar told Parliament that the statistics show that the Family Islands, or outer islands, are bouncing back even faster than … [Read more...]
The Caribbean Conundrum: United by Tourists, Divided by Covid
The pandemic struck these islands unequally. What does this mean for tourism, a major economic driver for the entire region? The answer is unique, just like the islands. On the glassy blue waters surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands, catamarans and pleasure yachts have packed the shoreline for the past year — a scene so busy and crowded, it’s unimaginable, even before the … [Read more...]