CARICOM urged to review visa regimes to lure more visitors
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are being urged to review their visa regimes so as to lure more visitors to the region.
The recommendation comes from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Aviation Task Force, a highly focused committee established to facilitate air transportation into and throughout the Caribbean and to enhance airlift, following a meeting in Antigua to review issues affecting intra-regional travel and make recommendations for increasing consumer demand.
The task force is to recommending a system similar to the Europe’s Schengen visa programme where visitors who are cleared at the initial port of entry can continue travelling seamlessly throughout most of the European Union.
It believes that full clearance at the first port of entry is necessary to ensure an improved cross regional experience by visitors and that the nine-member Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, (OECS) should be used as a model for the initiative.
The OECS is in the process of establishing a single economic space and is expected to implement full clearance at the first point of entry into the sub-group.
The CTO Aviation Task Force said that this best practice should be reviewed after its implementation for possible replication across CARICOM.
In addition to a single visa regime, the Task Force is recommending a standardized immigration or ED card across the Caribbean.
It said this would help reduce airlines’ costs and improve customer service at Caribbean airports and again made reference to efforts by the OECS to introduce the measure.
Other recommendations include an analysis of the impact of taxes and fees on the cost of regional air travel and a more holistic approach towards air travel revenue and a possible ticket tax rebate when a traveller starts and ends the journey in another destination of the same domestic space.
The task force also identified an urgent need to end secondary screening for intra-regional passengers who are in transit since the current practice diminishes the overall travellers’ experience.
The CTO Aviation Task Force meeting also discussed issues relating to the CARICOM Multilateral Air Services Agreement, open skies, and other regulations and restrictions facing airlines serving the Caribbean.
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| Date Posted | February 19 2013 |