Press Release
The British Virgin Islands Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association’s (BVICCHA) President of Hospitality and CEO of the Incline Business Group (IBG), Chaunci Cline, worked with a small task force to create the BVI HI 5 Assurance Programme Guidelines. These guidelines included the recommended steps for a soft reopening with a safe haven concept with outer islands on 20 June 2020. This period would allow for the protocols to be thoroughly tested for the requested reopening date of 1 September 2020. The idea of the BVI HI 5 Assurance Programme was to certify that the businesses pass all requirements and have minimum standard operating procedures in place prior to the full reopening of the borders to visitors.
In early June of this year, the soft and full reopening protocols and the full BVI HI 5 Programme were proposed and submitted to the BVI Tourist Board who later submitted them to the Government of the Virgin Islands for input and/or decision. The protocols and programme were recommended and embraced by the BVI Tourist Board until 21 September 2020 when the BVI Love Campaign was launched. Before the campaign’s launch, BVICCHA and IBG were very confident that the programme would be implemented to help build traveller confidence in our national preparedness and protocols while educating and equipping the country to open safely and responsibly to visitors of the BVI.
On 30 September 2020, the BVI Tourist Board informed IBG that they decided not to proceed as initially planned with the BVI HI 5 Assurance Programme. The BVICCHA President of Hospitality, Chaunci Cline, in a written statement to the Chamber on behalf of IBG said, “I would like to thank all industry sector stakeholders and partners who provided feedback during the consultation to develop the BVI HI 5 Assurance Programme. The time put into this project will not be lost as the proposed and recommended BVI HI 5 Assurance Programme Guidelines are now available for all to review.”
Despite this unfortunate and devastating news and many hours of work to get the guidelines and protocols developed, the team remains committed to working on behalf of the industries to influence the role it plays in fighting for the country and everyone’s livelihood. Hence, the BVICCHA will be hosting a Business Stakeholders Meeting 6 October 2020 to discuss the submitted reopening plan, protocols and certification programme for stakeholders’ input and/or adaptation in preparation for reopening 1 December 2020, in lieu of an official announcement. You can view the guidelines and protocols in preparation on the BVICCHA’s website by going to www.bviccha.org/covidresources/. You can register for this meeting here.
The Chamber remains committed to ensuring that all businesses can operate in a responsible, clean, healthy, and safe manner