TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands a date mentioned

https://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?articleId=31737

at least there is a date to aim for bookings to return and begin the new season mid October when it usually begins with Interline.

That would be great news...would like to get in 2 days before Interline and stay 2 days ahead of their itinerary....

The article says August/September. I'll be a monkey's uncle if it's the former. It sounds very pie-in-the-sky: get PAHO approval, buy equipment, get airlines to agree, etc. Even October seems optimistic.

I want mid October n the pool. I think they want the inter line regatta to happen. To much money to cancel it.
G

I am all booked for 11/4 -14, 3 night pre charter and then DYC cabin........rescheduled from July 4th week.. Looking hopeful!

I am hoping my flights go off, as I am supposed to fly SJU to EIS via Seaborne..... I saw something on another thread about them stopping service.....

So very excited and hopeful that we can begin to travel again safely for everyone...

A similar thing happened with the Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten this March. The pandemic was firmly established and rampant, yet the St. Maarten government allowed the Heineken Regatta to take place as usual. Money talked in that case.

The same might hold true for the BVI's allowing Inter Line Regatta to occur as well.

Was there a big outbreak of the C virus after the races?

No, there was not a big spike after Heineken. Most locals blamed most of the cases that were on SXM on returning locals, returning from Europe and North America, including students.

Interline Regatta does not bring big money into the BVI economy, thats the BVI Spring Regatta that does that. Money is not the driving factor in opening the borders of the BVI.

Don't fool your self. In the not too distant future money will become the driving factor in reopening or not. The UK has its own serious financial and political problems and is unlikely to bail out the BVI. Loss of virtually all tourist revenue for 6-9 months coupled with the recent and future losses of banking revenue could bankrupt the BVI government in short order. The government's ability to pay the financing on its considerable debt while paying the bloated salaries of too many government employees, repair outdated infrastructure and pay consultants to plan for the airport expansion is just not there.

When you have an Irmamaria occurrence there is devastation but eventually insurance money flows in and there is rebuilding which puts people to work and generates tax revenue. Even if the BVI opened 10/31/20 the tourists are not going to rush back. Some charterers will come back and some villas will get rented. There is no insurance to offset the loss of revenue as there was after Irmamaria.

Sorry to be gloomy but small countries with economies based on tourism are facing some rough times ahead.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. As a land based traveler to the BVI, specifically Peter's island, we are very anxious to get back down there. But wearing a mask for 7-8 hours of travel time is extremely unappealing.

Really? I would think that it would be, at some point. That seems an odd thing to write, for someone that lives on island and depends on tourism, to a great extent.

I think it’s just the fact that they’ve been so much more cautious in allowing even residents to return as compared to other Carib nations that there is credit due there for not rushing back for those tourism $$$...
Once open I hope those visiting do follow the safety protocols (while traveling and when on island) to help keep the islands open and safe...

I agree there certainly needs to be a balance, but the BVI government often just seems to act like they don't care whether tourists come or not, as they seem to always be enacting new taxes, rules, etc, regardless of the effect on tourism.

Hawaii will reopen to visitors August 1. Travelers will need proof of Covid negative test when boarding a plane bound for the islands. This seems like a reasonable request for vacationers and will bring in the tourist dollars for Hawaii and good routes for the airlines.

Sorry, not sure what Hawaii has to do with this topic?

I think her point goes to how a tourist island is handling the testing...and I agree with you, Carol, that going to BVI has become almost a larger hassle then it is worth which is a real shame. I see the tourism industry of BVI is currently collectively pressing the government to at least come up with a plan for rentry.

I have to go at least 1 more time but cant see going beyond next year...

To Carol's point, I don't know if they care or not, but I think the BVI gov believes they can charge whatever taxes, fees, made up crap they want and people will keep coming. At some point people may decide (as bailau eludes to) to travel elsewhere.

I just need to get back!

Malcolm, so many of us feel way! Normally we would have bought tickets by now, which would be foolish.

What's more, when they mention allowing folks back in, they don't even include homeowners - who may spend six months in the BVI! They talk about boat charters, villa rentals, cruise ships - what about people who bought properties, spent big money to restore them post Irma and can't use them?

The statement I made was about SXM allowing a regatta to go ahead for money. The BVI will not open if not ready for Interline as it bring hardly any revenue to the BVI. Moorings is not a BVI company.

Sorry?? You said "Money is not the driving factor in opening the borders of the BVI." That statement seems fairly clear.

I was just curious Peter...is Interline something that helps your business? I have always tried to avoid their path but wondered with the big regattas really help businesses as opposed to individual charterers...

my choice of boats is somewhat limited in October due to Interline I assume

The Interline brings in a lot of folks that spend money in restaurants, bars, hotels, taxis, etc. There are also the employees at the Moorings that are getting paid to to prepare and support the boats.

I think tourists from within the US need to hope and pray that the population here smartens up to realize how necessary are all their efforts to contain the current coronavirus. The EU is seriously considering halting ALL tourism from the US, due to the persistent growth of transmission in places where personal responsibility has been abandoned.

The BVI government has successfully kept COVID-19 from being pandemic in their islands. We in the US should be so fortunate.

The reasons the BVI was able to control the Covid is the same reasons they can formulate a plan to reopen. They are literally an island, have one government and can effectively control their borders as there are limited entry points.

Other Caribbean governments are reopening or at least have a plan to reopen. The tourism stakeholders are losing patience with the government

https://www.bvibeacon.com/hospitality-industry-demands-border-info/

Carol, to your question of what does have to do with BVI? I was making the point that Hawaii has been closed to visitors like BVI but now they are willing to let visitors in with a clean Covid test. Seems reasonable.

There will never be an n of (0) for Covid or any flu and to think that is possible will mean closing everything and and everyone into their homes forever. Vaccine will help but how many of you reading this post got a flu shot this year? Last year? Probably the same number of people who will not want the vaccine.

Of the 80 to 100 boats booked for the interline regatta about half are from the Moorings. The rest are from other companies. Voyage used to send out a dozen boats.
G

Sunnykm..as a health care provider and as a Master's of Public Health(c) I am, as well, very interested in the uptick of flu vaccinations next year. I think it will be very telling...I would also encourage the exploration of the Hygiene Hypothesis in North America..

I agree. There is no magic wand coming. A vaccine if developed is years away from being effective. Unless the virus mutates and dies off we will be living with it for a long time. The BVI needs to learn to live with that reality. If the BVI wants tourism they have to plan for some infections in the local population. Testing and tracing plus beef up the hospital's ability to respond by adding ventilators.

We get a few of the boats coming in for dinner and they are the first crowd of the season. We do not do regattas as they want as much for free as they can get without committing to numbers.

But less than 40 boats is normal 36 the previous 2 years and only about 20 in 2016 this thing is not anywhere near as big as people think , there are other boats that follow the crowd but thats just people on charter.

The numbers you quote are the boats actually racing. The boats following the regatta are not really just people out on charter. They are almost 100% airline people who follow the published schedule. Many airlines will organize and book a half of dozen boats without any racing boats at all. They are simply there for the parties. SWA will have a dozen boats and I have never seen them race once. I am not actually sure I have even watched them sail. I once was speaking to the skipper of one boat who was a noted Naval Academy sailing instructor. I mentioned I never saw him sail only motor at the regatta. He replied in the last five regattas he has never put the sails up. Then he said, “Don’t tell my crew, they think we are sailing”! The planning for each years regatta starts almost as soon as the prior regatta ends.
G

The numbers I quote are the only boats that appear for the parties plus about another 8 to 10 MAX the numbers you quote might of happened a decade ago they do not anymore.

I hope the borders do open so that Interline can come in but the restrictions may still be on the US until a vaccine is available or all the things the Premier wants are in place, which I doubt will happen. My friend is waiting to book 3 weeks in January but won't as he says a high temp reading at entry and he is denied entry... Insurance for his trip is $9000 don't know if that is high or not.

INSURANCE is $9000? Is he chartering a mega-yacht?

Not to be a Debbie Downer but the way I see it, 4 things have to all come together for BVI Charters to become an option for sailors again.

1. Obviously the islands have to re-open. The lack of a 'second wave' in the fall will help but people will need to know they can visit and not have to quarantine for 2 weeks upon arrival. I usually arrive a day or two before my charter starts, not two weeks.

2. Airlines have to be up and running. I think they will kick start the most profitable routes first. To me the good news is any February flight to the Caribbean I have been on has always been packed so those must be money making routes. The risks I see here is the talk that airlines will have the ability to deny boarding if you have a fever (COVID related or not). That leads into the question of what happens to your vacation package if the airline denies you boarding. Will you get reimbursed for your cruise, sailboat, resort, etc (and by who?)? Insurance rates I suspect will be brutal for this type of coverage. Airfare prices will still have to be reasonable as well and there has been a lot of talk on this point as well.

3. Which charter companies will survive not having charters for 9-10 months? I guess this depends on who is leveraged the most right now. The big 3 (Dream Yacht, Moorings and Sunsail) bring brand new factory boats into their fleets most years so I wonder how long they can carry them with no revenue. Anybody hearing anything on this? We've seen a few owner's postings on this board about the guaranteed income programs.

4. Does your home country, state or province have a mandatory quarantine when you return? I'm from Canada and you are currently expected to stay home for 2 weeks when you arrive back home from outside the country. The extra time off from work to go into self quarantine at the end of the trip may not be an option for some. Taking 5 weeks off for a one week charter???? (2 weeks quarantine at the start, 1 week of sailing and 2 weeks self quarantine at the end???) Nah...not an option for me right now...

I think we're still a long way from everything being settled. I've read some tour operators are expecting 2021 to be a dismal year as well. I'm hoping (more like dreaming) that my 2021 may include a BVI charter but I wouldn't even label myself "cautiously optimistic" yet.

And I must say that making a Painkiller in my back yard pales substantially to spending an afternoon at the Soggy Dollar!!!! Even with Jimmy Buffett's new CD blasting in the background.....

D

NSURANCE is $9000? Is he chartering a mega-yacht?

No thats 3 weeks insurance

Smaller companies are doing cheaper Staycation rates don't know how it affects owners revenue.

TMM have Seatiger out she is moored in front of The Wonky Dog now.

Insuring what? That's just a ridiculous amount of money for insurance. Is that specific Corona Virus insurance? My understanding is that there technically is not a commercially available insurance that covers Corona virus. Aruba has developed insurance which covers Corona and quarantine and medically necessary evac (but I'm not sure what else it covers, if anything). It is $15 per person, per day.

Carol, that may be CFAR insurance. It has always been expensive, and I'm sure is getting more so. It would cover the prepaid expenses (charter, villa rental, airfare, etc.) if you were not allowed to travel because you had a fever.