Get vaccinated or get tested regularly – BHTA

The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) says it is standing firmly by its decision to require regular testing of tourism employees who are not fully vaccinated.

Though government has made no decision on mandatory testing and vaccination and town hall meetings are being held to get the public’s view on the issues, the tourism officials say while the number of individuals in the sector getting the jab was increasing, it was still at an unfavourable 35 per cent for some entities, and between 70 per cent and 90 per cent for others.

BHTA chairman Geoffrey Roach and Chief Executive Officer Senator Rudy Grant told a news conference on Thursday that they believe education and awareness on the matter will help to get more tourism workers vaccinated and if not, have regularly tested.

Pointing out that the full BHTA membership met on the matter late last month and shared views, Roach said: “We still maintain that given the nature of this virus it’s probably critical to look at categories of workers and the need for them to be vaccinated and or tested.”

Following a July 23 BHTA membership meeting, the organization issued a statement indicating that it fully supported vaccination of industry employees, something they would continue to “strongly encourage”.

“It is our position that regular testing will not be required for those employees who are fully vaccinated and provide proof of an approved course of vaccines,” the statement said.

Roach explained on Thursday that since a lot of the industry’s team members work in close proximity with visitors, one of the popular questions was whether workers were vaccinated.

He said “a lot” of BHTA accommodation members were reporting that travellers were increasingly asking if their entire staff complement was vaccinated.

What is more, Roach said, some vaccinated visitors were indicating that they were not comfortable being served by people who were not vaccinated.

“We have had reports of persons who have opted to travel elsewhere,” he added.

“The truth is that we need to get this industry back up and running quickly. As we all know, tourism is the main driver of our economy – 40 per cent contribution to the gross domestic product. How long can we as a nation afford for tourism to be on its heels? We really can’t. So, our position is yes, we still maintain that.”

Stating that he was aware that Government was doing what it could to secure vaccines, Roach said “once it is that vaccines are secured . . . persons in those critical industries, critical services, should be given some special consideration in terms of being vaccinated”.

He noted that the BHTA has not taken any position on whether members should be offering incentives to their workers to take the vaccine, but indicated that there were some individual companies that have taken that decision and the BHTA has not raised any objections.

“At the end of the day, individual businesses might decide to put incentives in place, but it might reach the point where, as a country, we also need to look at putting incentives in place so that if you want to access certain services, more like discretionary services, you might have to be fully vaccinated,” said Roach.

Over the past several weeks, a number of businesses, including some in the tourism industry, have been issuing workers with memos indicating that they would be required to be vaccinated or be subjected to weekly or bi-weekly testing for the coronavirus.

Senator Grant said while the BHTA consultation took place prior to the Social Partnership meeting, it was subsequently agreed that the status quo would be maintained.

He downplayed concerns that some visitors were unvaccinated but were requiring workers here to take the jab.

“I understand why persons may have a concern in relation to unvaccinated visitors, but I believe that the Barbados travel protocols take those into account and these matters are discussed with the BHTA and at the level of the medical persons,” the BHTA official said.

He said the higher vaccination rates at some properties were due to “significant” education and awareness and dialogue with staff.

“There is a lot of concern and emotions attached, and the constant dialogue has really assisted those companies that have a significant high percentage of workers being vaccinated,” he said.

“We will be putting the emphasis on educational and sensitization component to encourage more of our tourism enterprises workers to take the vaccine.”
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)