The good news is that an RT-Lamp test is acceptable for entry into Canada
The Canadian government travels restrictions for reentry into Canada still requires a PCT COVID test to be completed within 72-hours of your flight. Finding a place to complete PCR testing in Turks and Caicos is easy enough and the results are emailed to your inbox within 24 hours and in practice it is often sooner. AccuDiagnostics in the Graceway IGA plaza provides a great service with rapid results delivery at a cost of $185 per test. The cost of tests for a larger group is significant.
There is a better option though, for Canadians returning home. A test kit known as a RT-Lamp test is now available and a test result qualifies fully for the Canadian test requirements.
Unlike the travel requirements for U.S. travelers returning home, Canadian citizen and permanent residents must have a PCR COVID test. This makes it a little more difficult for those heading North after a TCI vacation.
To return to Canada by air a PCR test with a negative result must be taken within 72 hours of your flight departure.
The types of acceptable tests are:
PCR – Polymerase chain reaction
Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs)
Travel habits continue to change as a result of the pandemic. Travelers from the U.S are these days are now choosing to visit island destinations in the Caribbean over long haul trips. The new trend shows a distinct preference for island destinations. Islands are viewed as less populated, more secure and closer to home. The particular destination with the largest year-on-year increase is the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The insurance comparison website Squaremouth first reported a significant swing toward Turks and Caicos back last October, as mentioned in our previous post. Using the data collected from travel insurance applications it found that there was a significant swing away from travelling to Europe, which had previously accounted for over 30% of the traffic. Post-pandemic Europe now has just 8% choosing to travel there.
Back in October the year-over- year increase in insurance applications to visit TCI was 303%. In the latest report this number has now ballooned to 536%. This makes the Turks and Caicos Islands the fastest growing destination for U.S. vacationers with now 4.4 % of travelers choosing to visit.
The findings be Squaremouth show some huge increases:
Caribbean destinations now account for approximately 20% of the insurance policies purchased through Squaremouth, up for 8% previously.
ABOUT SQUAREMOUTH
Squaremouth compares travel insurance policies from every major travel insurance provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth’s comparison engine and third-party customer reviews, travelers can research and compare travel insurance policies side-by-side. More information can be found at www.squaremouth.com.
Turks and Caicos vacations from Canada or the USA in 2021
Those keen to travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands for a vacation in the pandemic era will no doubt have already seen in the new that both the Canadian Federal Government and the U.S.A. Center for Disease Control ( CDC) have just issued recent new travel regulations . These are effective from January 7th 2021 in Canada and January 26th in the USA. Both countries now require all travelers arriving in in the respective homelands to have a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight to to that country. For those who are considering visiting TCI from Canada or the U.S.A, it is important for you to know that this new announcement should have no impact on your decision to test as testing is now readily available in Providenciales. Continue reading “How to get a COVID-19 test in the Turks and Caicos Islands”
The Canadian Federal Government has just issued a new COVID-19 travel regulation effective from January 7th 2021. This requires all travelers arriving in Canada to have a Negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight to Canada.For those who are considering visiting TCI from Canada, it is important for you to know that this new announcement should have no impact on your decision to test as testing is now readily available in Providenciales.
A new study by the U.S. based travel insurance company Squaremouth shows that the Turks and Caicos Islands are now the fifth most popular destination for American tourists. This puts TCI ahead of the ever popular Bahamas for the first time in the history of the data aggregation.
The Turks and Caicos Islands were reported as being the fastest growing destinations. The country saw a 303% boost in the data compared with a year ago taking the Islands from 60th position in 2019 to 5th in the latest study. Only the U.S itself, Mexico , Canada and the U.K received high numbers of visitors**. The change has been fueled in part by the closure of borders to travelers in many of the popular European destinations and the reluctance of travelers to go too far in the current pandemic. The short flight times from the US mainland ( around 90 minutes from Miami) make it a favorable choice.
An in-practice real-life look at the process of meeting the Turks and Caicos travel requirements
I’m headed back to Providenciales and had to negotiate the travel requirements in place right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For those who need more info or have concerns over the process, here is my journey through the travel requirements that are currently applicable to visitors to Turks and Caicos.
Trip Details
Lester B Pearson Airport, Toronto, Canada to Providenciales international Airport, Turks and Caicos on Saturday October 3rd, 2020.
There has been much discussion on social media with people concerned, postponing and even cancelling visits to TCI due to the travel restrictions and the stringent requirements in place to protect the Islands. Therefore, I started a little early to make sure that there were no issues that would prevent my travel over to Providenciales.
