Country has to adjust to a COVID-19 environment

Facing an overwhelming unemployment rate of close to 40 per cent, a dramatic decline in revenue and concerns over social decay, Minister of Tourism and International Transport Kerrie Symmonds said Barbados had very little choice but to start welcoming commercial flights.

He insisted that with the major revenue loss, massive furloughs, and the associated impact the closure of the tourism sector was having on other sectors including agriculture and transportation, Barbados simply must come to terms that it will still have to function in the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pointing out that well over 40 per cent of the island’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was made up of contributions from the tourism sector, he said it was therefore a matter of Government striking a delicate balance between resuming flights while ensuring the protection of the population.

Symmonds defended the “re-opening” and outlined the processes leading up to this decision as he addressed a Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) online seminar on Friday under the theme COVID-19: Resuming International Travel in the Caribbean.

“Obviously, the delicate balance that has to be struck is the substantial loss of revenue on one hand, the precarious state of the social well-being and the social fabric of the country, which subsequently becomes quite challenged in circumstances where 40 per cent of your population has no work,” said Symmonds.

“The issue that confronted us probably by the end of May start of June was the reality that . . . we have to learn to coexist with COVID-19. The reality is that we cannot bury our heads in the sand and we cannot wish it away . . .

“Therefore, until such time there is a vaccine available . . . we are going to have to find a way to continue to live while we deal with the COVID-19 reality on our doorsteps.”

He added: “We have little choice because there is not a lot more going for our economy at this stage which will allow us to be able to make sure that we can maintain a satisfactory standard or quality of living for our people.”

Pointing out that Barbados did not close its borders and was therefore able to facilitate a number of repatriation flights during the height of the pandemic here, Symmonds said that gave the immigration and other public administration officials the opportunity to build capacity.

He said as such, officials were now in a better position to manage an expected influx of traffic.

Giving further assurance of the island’s readiness, Symmonds said several meetings were held with labour unions to ensure that workers were comfortable and they understood the necessity of “re-opening” for commercial flights.

There have been several concerns raised about the island’s readiness for the resumption of tourism activities, with some warning that should the island experience an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus due to an influx of visitors, the economy could undergo a devastating shock resulting in gradual social decay.

However, insisting that officials would not be putting the population’s health in jeopardy, Symmonds said Government was not “letting the gates fly” on the re-opening process but was rather, re-opening in a carefully selected way on a market-by-market basis.

He explained that while flights were coming from the US where the pandemic was concerning, authorities were careful to only welcome flights from less concerning states such as New York, but not from other high-risk areas such as Florida or North Carolina.

Quickly acknowledging that some individuals may want to travel from one state to the next in order to get to Barbados, Symmonds gave the assurance that the requirement for passengers to present a valid PCR test taken within 72 hours would help to address that concern.

The Tourism Minister said it was “so far so good” for Barbados as the first flight came in last Sunday, adding that he was expecting increased activities at the airport in coming weeks.

“Thus far I think it is working well,” said Symmonds.

“Last Sunday when the first flight came in it was clear that the key stakeholders – Customs, Immigration, Port Health and others – were comfortable and understood what they were doing, largely because they had several trial runs in being able to do this type of thing when they were doing the sea to air transfers,” said Symmonds.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb