The agency has partnered with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) to establish a Covid-19 tourism taskforce.
A range of new measures form part of a wider Traveller Health Programme, supported by health and safety standards and policies, early Covid detection and monitoring, and a robust response system.
These have been designed, said the agency, to use travel and tourism information systems to capture new illnesses in real time and reduce the spread of coronavirus.
Certified Covid training measures for hospitality cover testing, use of masks, enforcement of social distancing, good hand hygiene, and well as other sanitation matters, extending to the entire passenger journey from arrival to departure.
The app, meanwhile, offers travellers health information by destination, covering healthcare facilities, accommodation, health alerts and public health issues, proactive Covid protection and prevention measures and any travel requirements unique to a specific destination, such as testing, health screening, pre-travel approval and tracking.
The agency claims the system is the first of its kind, with relevant information fed both to travellers and health and tourism stakeholders.
Accommodation providers and other tourism facilities will be able to seek a Caribbean Travellers Health Assurance stamp, with those achieving the standard listed on the app. There are also plans, next year, to extend the certification process to passenger ships.
Both the stamp and the app will be launched on 5 November, with the app available for both Apple and Android devices.
"The Caribbean’s Travellers Health Assurance Stamp for Healthier Safer Tourism (HST) is a recognition award for tourism entities and destinations which are implementing the recommended proactive Covid-19 health monitoring and safety measures," said the Caribbean Public Health Agency.
"Caribbean travellers now have measurable and verifiable health assurances for accommodations (hotels, guesthouses) and services (transport, tour operators) which have been awarded the stamp.
"Hospitality facilities awarded the HST stamp will be listed as a preferred safer option on Caribbean Traveller’s health mobile app and later will be listed on CARPHA, CTO and CHTA websites, with links to regional and international health and tourism stakeholders."
