The latest ease in COVID-19 travel protocols has been welcomed by visitors to the island, with some saying it has made Barbados more attractive.Last week, the Ministry of Health and Wellness announced that effective August 20, unvaccinated travellers would no longer be tested on arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA).Instead, unvaccinated travellers have to provide a negative rapid antigen test or PCR test taken within three days of arrival.When a team from Barbados TODAY visited the GAIA on Tuesday afternoon, visitors gave the move a thumbs up.An English tourist on her second trip to the island, who only gave her name as Claire, said she was happy the testing requirement had been removed.“Yes, it’s definitely easier and it makes it a lot more enjoyable. I’d rather not have to get the PCR or rapid test either but, obviously, you have to do what you’ve got to do,” said the tourist who was accompanied by her two daughters.Another British visitor, who opted to remain anonymous but disclosed she will be staying here for 11 nights, also approved of the change.She said the time had come for the world to accept that living with COVID-19 is the new norm.“We just need to live with it now and we just have to kind of stop causing all of this disruption, really. That’s my view, but it certainly does make travelling easier,” she said.Adrian Lovell, a Trinidadian who flew in from New York, said the new protocol was in line with what was happening elsewhere.
