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Minister of Tourism, Entertainment and Culture,
Hon. Aloun Ndombet Assamba, has said there was
no evidence of cancellations in tourist bookings
as a result of the CARICOM Special Visa, which
has been put in place for the 2007 ICC Cricket
World Cup (CWC).
"To date, we have no evidence of any cancellations
due to the need for obtaining a visa.we have evidence
of very buoyant bookings," Mrs. Assamba said,
as she addressed a press conference yesterday (Jan.
9) at the New Kingston offices of the Jamaica Tourist
Board.
She noted that the Ministry was working very closely
with tour operators, travel agents, travellers
and the immigration department, to ensure that
there was no fallout from the process.
"We know that whenever there are changes,
there is a lot of resistance to change, but the
visa is a fact of life. We are working with all
our partners internally and externally to ensure
that we do not have any falloffs in visitor arrivals," she
told journalists.
With its implementation delayed by a month, the
visa regime will take effect from February 1 to
May 15 in CWC host countries of Antigua and Barbuda,
Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St. Lucia
and Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
Nationals of all countries except Canada, France,
Germany, Japan, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, Spain,
the Netherlands, United Kingdom, the United States
and all CARICOM nationals except Haiti, will be
required to obtain the CARICOM Special Visa to
enter the host countries during the four-month
period.
President
of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association,
Horace Peterkin, said recently that the visa requirement
had resulted in losses to some local hotels, as
visitors have cancelled their bookings to travel
to destinations, which do not require visas. He
however welcomed the one-month delay in its implementation.
Kingston (JIS)
.
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