After many months of the borders being closed to visitors and the Territory’s tourism sector experiencing a tremendous blow, Premier of the Virgin Islands, Hon. Andrew A. Fahie in a live press conference rolled out the protocols for the first phase of the border reopening for Tourism.
Thousands of persons including eager visitors, residents and tourism industry professionals, listened in high anticipation as the Premier outlined the terms and conditions of the first phase of the Territory to visitors.
Premier Fahie revealed that in the first instance, entry into the BVI will be exclusive to air travel via the Territory’s international airport.
He said “In the first instance, commencing 1 December, 2020, entry into the BVI will be exclusive to air travel via the Terrence B Lettsome International Airport.”
Premier Faie explained that passengers will have to agree to terms and conditions that will include; periods of quarantine at approved accommodation, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing, medical travel insurance that includes COVID-19 coverage, subscription to a contact tracing system through their mobile phone, and in some cases using a wearable device, and bearing the costs associated with these measures.
The protocols are as followed:
- All arriving passengers would be required to have obtained prior approval to enter the Territory. Passengers will have to agree to te relevant terms and conditions before boarding their flight.
- Travelers will be required to register and upload the relevant documents via the online portal, BVI Gateway. The application must be completed at least 48 hours prior to the intended flight. Once approval for travel, travelers will be granted a Traveler Authorization Certificate. The portal can be accessed via BVIGateway.BVIAA.com and will be live on November 2nd, 2020.
- Approved travelers must present their BVI Gateway Traveller Authorisation Certificate along with a negative PCR test result, at the check-in counter prior to boarding the flight into the Territory. The negative PCR test result should be obtained at least 5 days prior to travel. Any traveler without a proof of a PCR test will be denied approval to travel to the BVI.
- Upon arrival to the BVI, travelers will be mandated to take another PCR test.
- Passengers will be be instructed to download a contact tracing software to their mobile phones. At all times, the traveler would be required to have their mobile device with them, with the tracing software active.
- For four (4) days upon arrival, travelers would be required to remain within the compound of their approved accommodation, avoid or minimize contact with others outside of their group and to keep their movement to a minimum. On the fourth day, the traveler would be required to take another PCR test.
- Once the result are negative, they would be allowed isolated movement to designated places. These would be locations that are not high-traffic or high-risk. These locations are being coordinated by Environmental Health and other Government agencies and the establishments will be notified.
- A fourth and final PCR test would be administered on Day 8 and once this test also returns negative, the traveler would be able to move within the Territory, without limitation.