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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä
Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations
Published: 12 April 2017 12 April 2017

Persons who previously required a visa to enter the BVI can now benefit from the newly enacted law which allows visa exemptions for cruise ship passengers.

The Cabinet of the British Virgin Islands made a decision on 8th March, 2017 in accordance with section 37 (4) of the Immigration and Passport Act (Cap. 130), to exempt the visa requirements where applicable, for persons arriving to the Territory on a cruise ship and who will remain in the Territory for a period of 24 hours or less.

“The addition of the new Tortola Pier Park cruise and shopping facility has been a game changer for the BVI in the cruise sector catapulting the Territory to the forefront with other regional destinations. As such, in efforts to remain competitive we have to continue to adapt to the changes in the cruise sector to ensure that we continue to meet and exceed the needs of our industry partners. This is why we found it important to provide ease of access to the BVI for cruise passengers, which will assist to increase bookings and in turn encourage more cruise vessels to include the BVI on their cruise itinerary,” said Alfred Henley, Managing Director (Ag) of BVI Ports Authority.

“Recent conversations at the 2017 Seatrade Cruise Global has indicated that this initiative was positively received by the cruise industry,” added Henley.

Tortola Pier Park is a full service facility that offers a variety of shopping and dining experiences via their over Sixty (60) businesses, as well as must have services such as banking, medical, car rentals, tours, internet cafe and business centers.