HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Bermuda will introduce a strict COVID-19 testing regime when it opens its borders on Wednesday to international flights for the first time in more than three months — and tourists will have to help foot the bill.
The fourth — and final — phase of the easing of restrictions introduced in March to cope with the global coronavirus pandemic will kick in at 6:00 am on July 1 but a curfew will remain, although the hours will change from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am to midnight to 5:00 am.
Last week, Tourism Minister Zane DeSilva said the Government would absorb the cost of the testing, but Burt fired back with a tweet saying “rest assured, tourists will pay a fee for their testing”.
DeSilva has said only three of Bermuda's regular air carriers will touch down here in July and a Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) report has forecast a grim outlook for the second half of the year.
There was a blow to Bermuda's tourism recovery efforts when Rosedon, an award-winning boutique hotel on the outskirts of Hamilton, announced at the weekend that it will not reopen until next year, after paying laid-off staff redundancy packages and running up losses of close to half a million dollars since closing on March 18.
