In order to prevent further coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, the Jamaican government issued a travel ban on people coming in from the United Kingdom (UK) where a a more infectious variant of the pandemic has broken out.

The travel ban, which began on Monday, December 21, was initially to remain in place for two weeks. Tourism officials have said that this move would likely cost the tourism industry some US$50 million and comes during the busiest part of the winter season. Particularly injurious was that the ban applies to one of Jamaica’s source markets, the UK.

In December, British Airways returned to flying into Montego Bay after eleven years of ceasing operations in the country’s tourism capital. Virgin Atlantic has also decided to once again offer flights to Jamaica.

With the variant of the virus shutting down the UK and 70 countries also placing the UK on a travel ban, the Government of Jamaica has extended the travel ban on flights coming into the island from the UK until Sunday, January 31.

Additionally, all non-Jamaicans who have been in the UK within the last 14 days prior to intended arrival date in Jamaica, who may seek to enter the island through another country, will not be permitted to enter.

This decision is likely to cost Jamaica more than US$150 million in tourism receipts and spells no income from that market for, at the very least, more than a quarter of the winter season (December 15-April15).

Last year, Jamaica had one of its best tourism years, bagging US$3.64 billion from 4.3 million visitors.

With the government making the decision to close the country’s borders, in an effort to keep the virus out, tourism took a major hit.

The sector forms the biggest lobbying group and managed to persuade the government to open up, citing economic necessity. Since then, infection numbers and deaths have increased and there are reports that the UK variant of the virus is already on the island.

It has been difficult to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing protocols with people willfully paying no attention to these measures causing the virus to spread and place strain on Jamaica’s health care system.

Minister of Tourism Ed Bartlett has been ebullient through it all, beckoning visitors to come to Jamaica, where ‘it is safe’.

Speaking at this year’s virtual Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) in November, he said: “We are already seeing positive signs that buoyancy is returning to the tourism sector. Hotel occupancy rates are slowly inching up. We will see a 40 per cent increase in arrivals over the winter season when compared with the previous period of our massive downturn.”

He added that between June and September of 2020, the country welcomed 211,000 visitors which generated US$231 million.

Former Travel Writer for the UK’s The Face, Harry Graham speaking with Our Today from London said: “God bless’m, Ed is a super salesman and his numbers always raise an eyebrow when he tells the story of Jamaican tourism. But even his optimism has to be held in check this time.”

“Coronavirus is a one-in-a-century event that has halted international travel and there is no getting away from it. Jamaica’s number one source market is the US, where there are over 20 million infections and 350,000 deaths. In the UK, there have been 2.6 million confirmed cases and over 75,000 deaths. The two-month trend in both cases and deaths is going up, not down. This mutated virus is a ticking time bomb. Some scientists have estimated the variant could be up to 70 per cent more effective at spreading,” he continued.

“It may be winter but with COVID on the rise, people are not going on holiday anytime soon. Ed and his team will just have to accept that and bite the bullet,” Graham told Our Today.

Energies must be placed on ensuring a mass breakout of this variant doesn’t besiege Jamaica. Last year, it was imported cases from the UK that saw infections take hold, and almost a year later, it looks like a mutation of COVID-19, again from the UK may do even more damage if allowed to go unchecked.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has made it clear that the country must now learn to live with the virus and that the economy must continue to be the primary focus.

Minister of Tourism Ed Bartlett is cognizant of the importance of ensuring that the populace is safe and that combating the virus is essential to the full return of the sector.

On the matter, he had this to say: “What we have to recognize is that the more we protect our own flank by way of following the protocols…once we do that and we are not the cause of any undue concern in the marketplace, then the traffic will come to us.”