The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has moved Antigua and Barbuda’s to Level 1 in its latest travel advisory.

Level 1 is the lowest risk level in the CDCs travel advisory. As such the Caribbean nation is listed as being among the safest destinations in the world to travel to right now.

Level 1 countries include those like Australia and New Zealand, which are countries that have reported fewer than 50 cases of COVID-19 in the last days.

According to the Antigua and Barbuda Ministry of Tourism and Investment, the country, which has continued its model tourism reopening, is elated at the new travel designation by the CDC as a “low-risk” destination.

This new designation augurs well for the country’s push to attract more visitors to the island with this latest stamp of “approval from the CDC,” the tourism ministry said.

In his response to the new designation, the country’s Minister of Tourism & Investment, Charles ‘Max’ Fernandez remarked: “We are delighted that Americans can have confidence in traveling to our shores.”

Emphasising that this latest announcement by the CDC was an endorsement of everything the country has done to contain the pandemic, Fernandez added: “We have worked very hard to ensure the safety of our people and our visitors and this has paid off in lower numbers of COVID infections and reduced impact on our economy.”

Antigua was among the first Caribbean destinations to reopen for tourism when it did so at the beginning of June 2020.

According to Fernandez, “there is every indication that this is another step towards a full recovery… . We want to ensure that we move forward enthusiastically but with all necessary care to ensure that we do this right.”