Schengen type visa for Caribbean to greatly benefit region in terms of trade – CTO

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are being urged to review their visa regimes so as to lure more visitors to the region.

The recommendation comes from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Aviation Task Force, a highly focused committee established to facilitate air transportation into and throughout the Caribbean and to enhance airlift, following a meeting in Antigua to review issues affecting intra-regional travel and make recommendations for increasing consumer demand.

The task force is to recommending a system similar to the Europe’s Schengen visa program where visitors who are cleared at the initial port of entry can continue travelling seamlessly throughout most of the European Union.

It believes that full clearance at the first port of entry is necessary to ensure an improved cross regional experience by visitors and that the nine-member Organization of Eastern Caribbean States should be used as a model for the initiative.

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States is in the process of establishing a single economic space and is expected to implement full clearance at the first point of entry into the sub-group. -(CMC)