Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Tourism is BVI’s ‘bread and butter’, let’s reopen October

Tourism is BVI’s ‘bread and butter’, let’s reopen October

“We can’t survive another six months in this country without tourism. [November] is the BVI’s timeline, but I’m a little faster.” - Julio ‘Sam’ Henry Local tour operat…
Local tour operator Julio ‘Sam’ Henry said the BVI has the ability to safely reopen its borders to a limited number of tourists as early as October.

Earlier this week, Premier Andrew Fahie suggested that limited reopening of the borders is slated for November.

But speaking yesterday, September 10 on Claude Skelton Cline’s Honestly Speaking radio show, Henry said tourism is so important to the BVI’s economy that a safe but sooner reopening of the borders is an option that should be seriously considered.

“We can’t survive another six months in this country without tourism. [November] is the BVI’s timeline, but I’m a little faster. I’m looking at October to start reopening some form of tourism in the BVI,” Henry said.

He said the BVI could start by accepting tourists in the charter yacht sector using a similar system being utilised to accept sailors in St Lucia.

Henry explained that under this system, yacht visitors get tested for COVID-19 upon arrival then return to their vessels until their test results are returned by authorities. Once they’ve tested negative for the virus, they’re allowed to roam St Lucia freely.

“They could go to Peter Island dock, for example, and within 24 hours we give them their results. If they test negative in 24 hours, they are allowed to roam but they get a colour-coded wristband. The wristband would tell people on land whether they are safe to interact with,” Henry explained.

“This is a programme that St Lucia is launching and it’s working really well for sailors. And at the same time, the government could still have protocols in place until we get to a point where we don’t have to worry about that,” he added.

Coupled with testing on arrival, Henry said the BVI could also require pre-screenings to ensure tourists travelling from neighbouring destinations are COVID-free.

“Before they get here, we do all the pre-screening. We work with our agencies in the States. We work with people in St Thomas, we work with people in St Martin. Wherever the flow of our people are coming from, we try to put some mechanisms in place to ensure people are safe coming here,” Henry explained.

Tour operators, hotel operators, and other business owners are experiencing a loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has brought the international travel industry to a halt.

Many hotels in the territory have started appealing to locals; offering reduced rates for people interested in ‘staycaytions’ (residents vacationing locally). Some tour operators have also started offering delivery and transportation services to locals as a way of supplementing their income.

In an address to the territory Thursday night, September 10, Health Minister Carvin Malone said the Cabinet will be meeting today to decide on the way forward as the number of active COVID-19 cases in the territory has dropped to 33.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×