Barbados Removes Test Requirement for Vaccinated Travelers

Travelers to Barbados will no longer be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result to enter the country under updated travel protocols announced Saturday by Mia Mottley, the country's prime minister.

The new entry protocols follow Barbados' reaching fully vaccination among 70 percent of its eligible population, said Mottley in a press briefing. Removing the entry test will have "positive implications" for the country's tourism experience, including speedier processing times at Grantley Adams International Airport, Mottley added.

"We had a 90 percent decline in the number of visitors in the last two years," she said. "[Now] we are significantly on our way back up." The country's rebounding tourism activity includes the resumption of cruise ship calls.

"What this signals to our travelers is that it is safe for them to come to Barbados, and we are in a position where we can comfortably accommodate many of the same measures they are experiencing at home," said Lisa Cummins, minister of international tourism and international transport, "such as the protocols for mask wearing and testing for certain activities."

Unvaccinated travelers will still be required to present a negative COVID-19 test to enter Barbados, said government officials. Under the updated protocols, masks are mandatory indoors and on public transportation while outdoors masks are optional.