Published 26 August 2021
Basseterre
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
BOTH VACCINATED AND UNVACCINATED CRUISE PASSENGERS ALLOWED ENTRY INTO ST. KITTS AND NEVIS
St. Kitts, August 26, 2021 (SKNIS): The Team-Unity-led administration is allowing both vaccinated and unvaccinated cruise passengers into the Federation St. Kitts and Nevis. According to the CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Racquel Brown, unvaccinated cruise passengers would have to take the RT-PCR Test within 72 hours from their port of embarkation and the fully vaccinated can take the Antigen Test or the RT-PCR test within 72 hours from their port of embarkation.
Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, during his monthly press conference on August 24, announced that “the Cabinet took a decision to spur cruise tourism by making a major concession to allow vaccinated cruise passengers to enter the Federation utilizing antigen tests”.
The prime minister said that the Cabinet took the decision bearing in mind that “once visitors are fully vaccinated, the risk of their transmitting the virus to our people is significantly reduced.”
He also said that an additional layer of protection had to do with the statistics that “the strong roll-out of our vaccination programme has seen St Kitts and Nevis emerge with over 62 percent of the population fully vaccinated and over 73 percent having taken at least their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
The prime minister also added that the coordinated efforts to manage cruise visits through the travel-approved bubble vaccination tours will result in a safe corridor of containment.
“The opening up of cruise tourism will put thousands of persons back to work, increasing income flows and business activity,” he said. “For 17 months a large number of persons like taxi operators, employees at duty-free shops at Port Zante and elsewhere have been without meaningful work.”
He said that the heavy dependence of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) and the Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) on budgetary support from the Federal Government will be reduced as they will benefit from the influx of passengers from the cruise industry.
