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Two of the most popular Caribbean islands left off the FCO safe list
Two out of five of the most popular Caribbean islands for British holidaymakers have been left off the Foreign Office list of safe destinations to visit.
The Foreign Office published a list of countries which it considers no longer present ‘an unacceptably high risk’ to British people on 3 July.
It said the list was based on an in-country public health assessments, but while the majority of Caribbean islands were included on the safe list, Cuba and the Dominican Republic were not.
Carol Hay, secretariat of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, said data from tourism research analyst Forward Keys revealed that these were two of the most searched for destinations by British holidaymakers, along with Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda.
"These are the destinations that the British traveller likes," she said. "It is now up to those destinations to work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to see what’s the reason they have not made it onto the list and what they have to do to get there."
Cuba has had 2,428 cases of coronavirus and 87 deaths so far. The Dominican Republic has had 45,500 cases and 903 deaths. Unlike in many other Caribbean destinations, the number of new cases in the Dominican Republic has been rising since April and there were 974 recorded on Sunday. In contrast, Barbados has had only 103 caes in total and no deaths.
Carol said the health and safety of the entire Caribbean was important to the secretariat. "We don’t want to feel there are gaps that haven’t been identified," added Carol.
The FCO has said the list will be updated where appropriate. This week it removed Serbia.
"We have to see these destinations there very quickly with the right health and safety requirements in place, if it is deemed that what’s caused the gap," said Carol.
However, she acknowledged that tour operators will have slimmer programmes to the whole of the Caribbean for the rest of this year due to the impact of Covid-19.
"Booking a long-haul holiday might not be on top of everyone’s list," she said, pointing out that many workers are still furloughed and thousands have lost their jobs.
She said flights from the UK would be supported at first by the VFR market, followed by tourists.
Watch the full interview here.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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