The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the travel industry causing tourism boards and many businesses to completely reshape their operations to accommodate new travel restrictions due to the public health crisis. This week, the government of Barbados has revealed that it is considering introducing a new 12-month stamp for remote, digital nomads to attract more business travelers to rebuild the tourism sector.
“We came up with a concept and it is being refined now as ‘12-Month Barbados Welcome Stamp’,” said the Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley at the official reopening event according to Barbados Today. “This will allow people from the United States, Europe, and Latin America to come and do their jobs digitally for a couple of months and then go back home, if they feel they can work better in a more relaxed atmosphere such as next to a beach.”
“Government is committed to working with you on the promotion of new concepts like the 12-Month Barbados Welcome Stamp, being able to open our borders to persons traveling and making it as hospitable as ever for all of us, and making it available for Barbadians from every walk of life to believe that for special occasions, or just for so, that they can come out and be a part of this wonderful exercise,” she added.
The Prime Minister also went on to say that tourism officials will also be visiting different areas around the island to meet with residents and business leaders about effective ways to boost their sales that used to rely on tourism.
“We can’t be a post-COVID Barbados with the same problems as the pre-COVID Barbados,” said Minister of Tourism and International Transport Kerrie Symmonds tells Barbados Today. “So [if] we want to fix the [areas] to make it as attractive as possible, to make sure the experience is full of excitement, that it is a place we can comfortably come to stay, eat and play—and that is how we want to rebrand it,”
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