𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭
In the coming weeks, St. Maarten will allow fully vaccinated people to travel here without requiring a COVID-19 test, VSA Minister Omar Ottley said in the Council of Ministers Press Briefing today, Wednesday.
This no-test travel will only apply to people who received the vaccines of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Travellers must be fully vaccinated two or more weeks before travelling to St. Maarten.
No date was given when this no-test travel will take effect for residents and visitors coming to St. Maarten.
Several countries have started the process of allowing fully vaccinated people to travel to/visit without a COVID-19 test.
(Source: Govt. of St. Maarten)

YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is great news ! I wonder what proof of vaccination SXM will require...I am sure they will spell that out for us...

Fantastic news! Thanks Elaine! Now if we could get back to the US without a brain swab.
I assume they know if you are vaccinated by a scan for the chip, sure hope they got mine placed correctly!

Wish the effective date would be SOON as I arrive June 5, but I am sure it won't be that soon.

Wonderful news. Hopefully the US will do the same too.

Doubt it will help us for our trip in June, but hopefully by October!!!

👍👍👍👍

I would imagine your vaccination card.

Todd, good one!😆

Awesome, have a Dec trip coming up, will be nice!

That is great news as we are going the end of October so hopefully it will be in effect by then.

My prayers have been answered!!! What we went through back in March-April was a near heart attach!!! We got the "J&J" shot as soon as we got home!! We made copies and put the originals in a travel folder for this reason!! SXM here we come!!!

This is such great news. Was not looking forward to all the testing requirements for our fall trip.

Excellent step....removes a little (a lot) of stress from vacation planning....

What chip?

Didn't you get one. It was a tracking device that follows every move and purchase you make. 😄

I’m STILL waiting for the 5G to kick in! 😜

yay we are hoping to come in november

The Ohio Governor set up a million dollar lottery open only to people who have been vaccinated. Some pushback. I think it is ridiculous !

Glad to see they've come to their senses with this. Hopefully, all that will be needed in your CDC Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination card (not sure what our Canadian friends receive when they get vaccinated). I did learn earlier this week that for travel to some European countries (i.e., Spain) that the CDC card is all that is needed for entry along with an online form for informational purposes. SXM should follow suit with this approach.

Wonder when the US will follow suit?

Good question!

Hopefully soon! But, the St. Maarten decision is huge in so many ways. The economy of SXM should steadily improve given the return of cruise ship passengers this fall or winter. Although my numbers are likely out-of-date, in an average year 1,800,000 cruise ship passengers (and crew) disembark at the port in Philipsburg and bring $423 million in direct income to the island. Not all in Philipsburg, but we've all met cruise ship passengers on Maho and Mullet Bay, and so many on Orient Beach that it's impossible to count. Cruise ship lines like Celebrity will require 100% fully vaccinated passengers and crew on all upcoming sailings, and let's hope all of these lines will now start putting SXM back on their Caribbean ports-of-call lists. Another half million tourists arrive annually through PJIA, and those numbers could steadily improve if all that is needed is a COVID vaccination. I suppose the question that still lingers is requirement to purchase medical insurance for vaccinated persons after arriving?

Sammy--that's a good question regarding insurance, but my personal opinion is that the insurance is effectively worthless and is just a way for the insurance companies to make money, so it will probably stay for a while.

Will help businesses on the Island to survive.

This is really good news for travel to the island and for encouraging visitors. In Canada, while about 55% of the population now has received at least one dose, only about 5% is fully vaccinated so far. Second doses are expected to start ramping up quickly in June.

At the current time in Ontario, you get a printed document issued by the Ministry of Health at the time of your first vaccine dose. As of this week, you can now access a digital PDF document which will show the details of both doses by using your health card number. I'm sure other provinces will be doing something similar. The Government of Canada, along with other countries, and particularly the G7 countries, is looking at what some sort of standardized international vaccine travel document might look like, whether something digital or something akin to the long-used International Certificate of Vaccination (Yellow Card or Carte Jaune).

I fully expect most of this to be ironed out by the time we are set to arrive in SXM in mid-January. I'm looking forward to the travel being more "normal".

And, as far as we know, it has YET to be used. NO positive cases that have surfaced here or on any other social media. Go figure. It is a cash cow and it will stay around.

It was absolutely a different experience than the usual when we went end of April. The testing, the insurance, the entry paperwork, submitting temps...but worth all of the hastle because being there finally after over a year was PRICELESS. Going back beginning of August.

Have a friend coming this weekend filled out EHAS and it is now asking if you are vaccinated.

Perhaps they are just taking some stats about what percentage of visitors are currently vaccinated.

Yes, could be. The article today said something about tracking that information. Just surprised to see it so quickly

Article in today's Daily Herald

Doesn't say anything about timing, other than 'in the coming weeks'.. Not sure what they are talking about with the QR code. Track people doing what???

Never does! LOL

[/quote]
And, as far as we know, it has YET to be used. NO positive cases that have surfaced here or on any other social media. Go figure. It is a cash cow and it will stay around.[/quote]

Why am I thinking they will not abandon the insurance and fee for same? Great source of island income IF they can get away with maintaining it........

Source of income for the insurance company! If it's been used, we will never know

Has anyone know of anyone who has tested positive, when leaving St. Martin?

The woman in front of me at Sun Pharmacy on Thursday tested positive. I don’t know if she was a tourist or local, but the person doing the tests spent several minutes talking to her privately.

C D C guidelines for Americans traveling internationally...

And to think over all the years I've followed this site so many persons have criticized the cruise industry for even the thought of bringing so many passengers to these two countries. For us we have been land vacationers and cruise passengers and we are so glad that the cruise business is coming back to SXM.

The money from tourists is amazing. I hope it returns to SXM.