Barbados Adds Entry Options and Launches Airport Changes

Barbados is providing travelers visiting the southern Caribbean nation with more entry options. Effective immediately, the country will accept negative test results from healthcare provider-administered rapid antigen tests performed no more than one day prior to arrival.

The new protocols were announced after Barbados officials lifted a local 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. curfew earlier this month. COVID-19 rapid antigen tests are "widely available in Barbados' primary source markets," Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) officials said in a statement.

Barbados also accepts RT-PCR COVID-19 tests performed no more than three days prior to arrival in the country. The COVID-19 tests can be taken using samples administered by nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal, nasal, anterior nare or mid-turbinate swabs.

Results from a self-administered swab, shallow nasal swab and saliva tests are not accepted, said BTMI officials. In-transit passengers at Barbados' Grantley Adams International Airport will not be required to test for COVID-19 to transit through Barbados.

Along with the additional entry options, BTMI announced new procedures at Grantley Adams Airport. Paper entry forms previously distributed aboard aircraft arriving in Barbados will be discontinued, officials said.

Additionally, the temporary Gate 14 to 16 arrivals hall which was previously used to "manage port health entry checks" and perform testing during the pandemic has been returned to its original use. "Travelers will once again utilize the more spacious main arrivals hall," BTMI officials said.

Barbados tourism stakeholders recently welcomed Renée Coppin as new chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) during a special general meeting held last month.

In a Barbados Today report, Coppin said she would work to "rebuild [Barbados'] tourism sector after two years of pandemic uncertainty."

Coppin added, "It is certainly my vision to build on this foundation to again have tourism be the preeminent sector driving the development of Barbados."