The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis in its continued efforts to protect the citizens and residents of the Federation from the COVID-19 virus will not permit cruise visitors to integrate into the local community by creating a safe bubble at Port Zante.
Minister of Tourism, Honourable Lindsay Grant, stated this during his press conference on September 8 and added that during this first phase passengers will not be allowed to journey through the streets of Basseterre independently.
“As the Celebrity Equinox will arrive at Port Zante, Port Zante will become a bubble and we are at this time working with the COVID-19 Task Force, UDC (Urban Development Corporation), tour operators, and the retail operators at Port Zante to finalize the logistics of this bubble,” Minister Grant said.
“The visitors arriving at our shores on cruise vessels will explore the destination via Travel Approved Fully Vaccinated Tours,” he said.
He also stated that “All individuals interacting with cruise ship guests including SCASPA security, Customs, Immigration, retail operators, vendors, taxi and tour bus operators, and attraction site employees must have completed the Travel Approved training facilitated by the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, the Ministry of Health and their partners and must be fully vaccinated.”
Minister Grant said that for the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, this is a giant step as the Team-Unity Government needs everyone within the Federation to make the port call of the Celebrity Equinox and all future calls a success as the tourism sector is slowly rebuilt.
“When we receive Celebrity Equinox on 14th September all eyes will be on us. Other cruise lines and destinations will be monitoring the success of our call and we must do all we can to make this call a success,” he said.
“We have also received a request for a call on 5th October 2021, however, the realization of the call in October and future calls depend heavily on the success of the Celebrity Equinox’s visit on September 14th. The success of this call will be our success as a nation and is critical to our rebuilding efforts,” said Minister grant.