When borders reopen on July 17th, unvaccinated nationals will not be allowed to arrive in the country through Tobago’s ANR Robinson Airport, only via the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad.

This was revealed by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley during Saturday’s Covid-19 media briefing. 

He explained the reason for this policy is strictly logistical. 

“We want to make sure that we preserve Tobago- it being a separate entity- it is possible to preserve a lower level of exposure in Tobago. Two- the logistics of managing unvaccinated people- the government is not prepared to take on that  in two airports when we can do it well in one,” Dr. Rowley said.

“Because if you are coming unvaccinated it’s a whole operation to deal with you, right? And that involves having and using transportation from Immigration Officer to a hotel, to manage you at the hotel, and so on. So, we are relieving Tobago of that burden at this time and we have one entry into that country. 

Asked whether this decision could block a possible tourism boost to the island, Dr. Rowley said government had weighed the options and decided to err on the side of caution.

“I hear that, but we are not going to relieve ourself of that suffering by inviting unvaccinated people inside there, because the second case could be worse than the first. Even though we would love to have lots of tourists in here in large numbers at this point in time unvaccinated tourists are unwelcomed,” he said.