City Manager Janice Brathwaite-Edwards said the moratorium will be with the condition “that they pay their outstanding arrears”.

Several of the vendors have been behind on their rent for some time.

Month-end reopening

In the meantime, Brathwaite-Edwards said some of these Craft Alive vendors will be allowed to resume operations at the end of this month, pending approval from the Environmental Health Division.

“All we are doing is letting them reopen [because] there are some people in Craft Alive that do business with the local population. So it is an opportunity now for them to be inspected and be up to the mark as it relates to social distancing and the environmental health standards,” she explained.

With the pending reopening, the City Manager issued a public appeal for residents to patronize the businesses in that area.

She made that appeal while describing the Craft Alive village as having “a big impact on the city of Road Town”.

“We are not only looking at the tourist situation because as we move forward with Craft Alive, we want to ensure that we have a very powerful impact on the local population, not just the tourists,” Brathwaite-Edwards stated.

“We don’t want it to be a situation where they only rely on tourists for business,” she added.

The City Manager further informed BVI News that residents should expect more social and cultural activities at Craft Alive.

She said the vendors are excited to return notwithstanding them not reopening all at once.

The territory’s borders are still closed to visitors.