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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Travel
Brian Major

Updated Belize protocols eliminate visitor applications

A couple enjoys the beach at the Blue Dolphin resort in Belize in January 2012. (Ray Grumney/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)

Travelers to Belize will no longer be required to complete an application to enter the country under updated protocols announced Tuesday by government officials.

Belize visitors who arrive in the country with proof of a negative PCR test or who test negative at the airport no longer need to quarantine in the country for 10 days, officials said.

Visitors will still be required to download the Belize Health App and provide requested information within 72 hours of arrival in the country, said Belize Tourism Board (BTB) officials in a statement.

Under the country's entry process, arriving travelers will be screened and may be randomly selected for a secondary screening. Visitors will also be subject to a "double rapid test" if necessary, at the traveler's expense.

Under the updated protocols, Belize's "Safe Corridor" for tourists has been expanded from hotels and resorts listed on the Belize Health App to include "Gold Standard" entities including restaurants, tourism sites, gift shops and car rental and taxi operators.

Gold Standard organizations have implemented a nine-point BTB program focused on health and safety training intended to "ensure employees and travelers are confident in the organization or activity's cleanliness and safety," said officials. The Safe Corridor encompasses resorts and tourism companies that have achieved Gold Standard designation.

Tourists are permitted to "move around freely" while in Belize but are "highly encouraged to remain within the Safe Corridor by visiting and using only those entities that are Gold Standard certified," said officials, "and the certification is displayed and clearly visible."

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