Tour bus drivers COVID-19 compliant

Chairman of the Jamaica Co-operative Automobile and Limousine Tours Ltd. (JCAL), Brian Thelwell, says tour bus drivers in the tourism sector are making an effort to remain COVID-19 compliant.

“The buses are equipped with their sanitisers, and once the passengers come out of the vehicle, all the handles and everything is sanitised to ensure that the next passenger will be as safe as the first,” he said.

Mr. Thelwell was addressing a Think Tank held at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Montego Bay regional office in St. James, on Monday (August 31).

In the meantime, Mr. Thelwell is imploring citizens to adhere to the protocols stipulated by the Government to protect themselves from COVID-19, as the pandemic “is no laughing matter”.

“Too many persons are not taking it seriously… . We should not have to [have] a ‘big stick’ approach, because self-preservation is the first right of man. I want to live, I would like you to live and I would like everyone to live, so let us start [protecting] ourselves. If each one of us decides that ‘I am going to live’, others will [stay] alive as well,” he said.

Mr. Thelwell was among a group of tourism stakeholders who addressed the ‘Think Tank’ to give an update about the level of compliance within the tourism sector and the work of the COVID-19 Resilient Corridors Committee since its establishment.

The COVID-19 Resilient Corridor is a Government of Jamaica-initiated concept that was developed to protect citizens while restarting a phased tourism recovery, through tightly managed and enforced protocols in controlled geographic spaces.

Among the stakeholders present at the Think Tank were President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Omar Robinson; and Chairman of the COVID-19 Resilient Corridors Committee, John Byles.