As soon as London\u2019s first coronavirus lockdown ended last summer, Abbie Sheppard, 24, took a quick vacation to the island of Bermuda.<\/p>\n
Four months later, the vacation is long over but she\u2019s still there – one of the thousands of people lured to islands in the Caribbean and the North Atlantic by programs aimed at snagging remote workers.<\/p>\n
“I just never went back,”\u00a0 Sheppard, the chief of staff at the celebrity-booking company Cameo, said by telephone.<\/p>\n
With traditional tourism hammered by the pandemic and many in Europe and North America working from home amid shorter days and dropping temperatures, islands across the Caribbean are trying to attract longer-term visitors.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the sun-kissed version of the road-tripping and temporary-rental\u00a0trend\u00a0seen over the summer.<\/p>\n
Countries wooing home-bound toilers from abroad include:<\/p>\n
This is distinct from pandemic\u00a0promotions\u00a0by some islands to sell second passports at a discount.<\/p>\n
Costly security<\/strong><\/p>\n Attracting workers involves a delicate balancing act.<\/p>\n The Caribbean has been mostly spared the worst of the pandemic. By closing borders and shutting out cruise lines early, many islands managed to keep the virus at bay.<\/p>\n There are\u00a0only eight places in the Western Hemisphere\u00a0that have reported no Covid-19 deaths and they\u2019re all small islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic.<\/p>\n The safety has come at a huge cost. Travel and hospitality represent anywhere from 20% to 90% of the economy of Caribbean nations, making the region one of the most tourist-dependent swaths of the planet.<\/p>\n The International Monetary Fund\u00a0expects GDP across much of the region\u00a0to collapse 9.9% this year.<\/p>\n Now, as the US and Europe are seeing a second surge, islands are struggling with how to welcome back visitors without rolling out the red carpet for Covid-19.<\/p>\n Travellers entering Bermuda must present a negative Covid test upon boarding the airplane and are retested four more times\u00a0over two weeks before they\u2019re allowed to move about freely. The island of 64,000 people has reported 222 cases and nine deaths.<\/p>\n That makes it one of the most rigorous testing\u00a0scheme<\/span>s in the world, a hassle for tourists but a perk for remote workers.<\/p>\n Along with proximity to the US East Coast and robust business infrastructure, \u201cone of our unique selling proposition is, clearly, how well we\u2019ve been able to manage the virus,\u201d said Premier David Burt.<\/p>\n Since launching its remote-worker visa program in July, Bermuda has received almost 600 applications. It may be a drop in the economic bucket – but every drop counts.<\/p>\n