HAVANA -— With the coronavirus waning in Cuba, the government plans to restart its tourism industry by sending visitors to five narrow islands that will offer all-inclusive vacations and keep foreigners isolated from the rest of the nation. The state-run system, which debuted last week, is designed to reopen a

BASSETERRE — As iconic as the islands’ pristine beaches and tropical forests, the 60,000-plus green monkeys of St. Kitts and Nevis are a quintessential part of the Caribbean experience for many visitors. But while these photogenic mischief-makers might charm tourists, they pose serious threats to the twin-island Federation. Likely first

CHRISTIANSTED — During his COVID-19 briefing today, Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. said he is initiating the blue “Open Doors” phase of the territory’s path back to normalcy effective June 1. “This simply means that we will allow the prohibitions on leisure travel to expire, making it easier for potential tourists

HAVANA — As countries begin to ease lockdown measures in order to kickstart their economies, all eyes are on how international borders will reopen, thereby enabling business and tourism to resume. Some nations have already agreed on, or mooted the possibility of, establishing “travel bubbles” whereby groups of countries who

BRIDGETOWN — For Caribbean nations such as Suriname, Belize and Barbados, the pandemic hasn’t just shut down local economies. It’s also led some investors to worry about how they’ll repay their bonds. Unlike eight regional nations including Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua that may qualify for a global debt relief initiative

NASSAU — We are all in the same COVID-19 storm, but not all countries are in the same boat. Here in the Bahamas, 70 percent of our GDP is generated from tourism. Tourist-based economies like ours throughout the Caribbean region have limited social safety nets. This means our people, economy

MIAMI — The family of a cruise crew member who died after testing positive for COVID-19 filed a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean Cruises on Tuesday saying the company failed to protect its employees as the pandemic ravaged sailings around the world. The wrongful death case filed in circuit court in

SANTO DOMINGO — There are now at least 8,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in a single Caribbean country, which saw a whopping 281 new cases today. The Dominican Republic reached 8,235 cases yesterday as its death toll climbed by another 13 to 346. According to the local representative of the Pan

MIAMI — Good news for those who have booked Carnival Cruise trips later in the year. The company announced today that voyages will resume on August 1. Carnival Cruise Line officials said that all North American cruises until July 31 remain canceled, but on August 1 specific ships will once again set sail.

WASHINGTON — A sudden stop in tourism caused by border closures and lockdowns aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic will cause a 6.2% contraction of the Caribbean economy in 2020, the deepest recession in over half a century, the IMF said on Wednesday. In a blog on its website, the