The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) says the planned reopening of the island's borders to international travellers on June 15 is an opportunity for a return to normality for the more than 300,000 workers and businesses that depend on tourism for a living.

The JHTA, in a news release on the weekend, said it had been an active participant over the last three months with the Tourism Recovery Task Force and other stakeholder groups towards a sustainable recovery of the tourism sector.

The protocols, which have been endorsed by the World Travel and Tourism Council and won kudos from the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, mandates all licensed tourism businesses to implement, with great detail, cleaning and sanitation requirements.

Noting that the industry is scheduled to open in phases, starting with a Government-defined corridor from Negril in the west to Port Antonio in the east, along with Kingston, the JHTA said it supports the requirement for every tourism business to receive approval from the Tourism Product Development Company Limited (TPDCo) to reopen.

“With the financial devastation being experienced by the over 300,000 tourism workers as well as the businesses that employ them, we know it is now time to get our industry back to work,” the JHTA said.