Jamaica Shortens Window for COVID-19 Test for Visitors

Travels planning to visit Jamaica will have to schedule their COVID-19 test closer to their departing flight.

Beginning March 11, travelers will be required to take their test within three days of the travel date. It was previously 10 days.

The negative test result must be presented to the airline representative to complete the check-in for a flight.

“Jamaica continues to place the highest priority on the safety and well-being of our residents and visitors. Since the borders reopened in June, the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Health and Wellness have worked together to continuously adapt our entry requirements in tandem with international best practices. The enhanced entry testing requirement aims to maintain our safe and seamless experiences for international visitors and Jamaicans,” Jamaica’s Director of Tourism, Donovan White, said in a statement to Travel Market Report.

Tests must be done by a medical laboratory that has a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) registration.

Jamaica has set up two “Resilient Corridors” to encourage safe tourism practices. They include the Northern segment stretching from Negril in Westmoreland across the northern coastline to Port Antonio in Portland and a South Coast segment running from Milk River in Clarendon westward to Negril in Westmoreland.

Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister, said late last year the country was “already seeing positive signs that buoyancy is returning to the tourism sector,” with hotel occupancy rates slowly inching up. The winter season saw a 40% increase in arrivals compared with the previous period of “massive downturn.”