The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) is joining the region in seeking to quiet fears that the Special Caricom Visa will have severe consequences on the region’s tourism industry. The CTO, in a statement issued yesterday, revealed that a number of special initiatives are to go in place to facilitate ease of travel from territories where travellers must have the Caricom Visa to enter the single domestic space that was created as a result of the region’s hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup.
“Because travel and tourism are so important to the economy of the Caribbean, officials will put an extraordinary number of initiatives in place to facilitate the issuance of visas to those visitors that have been affected,” the CTO stated. It pointed to one of those initiatives as a special Web site, www.caricomimpacs.org “for the application of visas including answers to frequently asked questions.” A 24 hour hotline has also been set up to address concerns and a three-day turn-around for requests for visas after receipt of complete applications in a processing centre has been introduced, the CTO explained.