As Jamaica prepares to reopen its borders for tourism on June 15, the island has launched a novel concept: a “resilient corridor” to manage the movement of tourists. 

The “coronavirus-resilient corridor” gives Jamaica the ability to manage and trace the movement of tourists along the stretch of road from Negril through Port Antonio on the northern coast of the island. 

It “will embrace all activities within that area just along the main road,” Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said. “It is a manageable corridor that will be able to have easy access. But the most important thing is to be able to trace the visitors and to contain their movement.”

It effectively creates a “zone” for tourism on the island centered around the most popular destinations in the country. 

“It is fair that we start this phasing arrangement with a corridor that is manageable with ease,” he said. “We have the infrastructure like Hospiten, which I visited and they are dedicating an entire wing for COVID-19-related cases that may come to them, the transportation arrangement and the ease of access to communication.”

Areas to the south like Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, along with the island’s south coast, will be incorporated into the second phase of Jamaica’s tourism reopening process. 

So what’s Jamaica’s outlook for the remainder of the year?

Bartlett said he could envision another 400,000 stopover visitors “if all goes well between when we open and Dec. 31.”

— CJ