Several key government agencies gathered on Monday to celebrate the launch of the new ArriveAntigua.com electronic ED cards that have replaced the paper-based system.
Information Technology Minister, Melford Nicholas, gave an overview of the processes that led to Tuesday’s launch of ArriveAntigua.com and the additional benefits that the system will provide to various government agencies. Along with the ministry of tourism, for obvious reasons, Minister Nicholas noted that the Ministry of Finance has also expressed an interest in the data that the system provides.
“From across the government standpoint, the Ministry of Finance is taking an interest in this as well. Simply because the capture of the data at the airport gives other agencies of government, including the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) immediate access to the collected information that comes to us in the form of the number of people visiting. You can imagine that the Ministry of Finance has to hold the hotel sector accountable for tourism arrivals. They now have within their own control, a tool and an instrument that can give them immediate information as to the number of persons who are traversing our borders,” he remarked.
The minister described the system as ‘truly flexible’ and its mobility gives both Immigration and Customs the ability to meet people where they are.
Deputy Commission of the IRD, Jermaine Jarvis, also highlighted the significance of the data which the new electronic cards will capture. “This data provides a reliable record of travel dates, frequency of visits and duration of stays – key information that has profound implications for tax compliance in the accommodation and other sectors,” he noted.
He said the IRD welcomes the digital ED card and looks forward to the increased efficiencies that it brings. “We will make every effort to ensure that this increased efficiency is translated to increase compliance and dollars and cents,” he declared.
Comptroller of Customs, Raju Boddu said his department strongly believes that leveraging the emerging technologies would be helpful in making visitor experiences pleasant. “The new system – ArriveAntigu.com – will assist Customs to speedily and efficiently process the passenger traffic, the advance information keyed in by the visitors could be used for risk analysis and for the formation of countermeasures for risky travelers,” he stated.
Chief Immigration Officer, Katrina Yearwood, reflected on the fact that Antigua and Barbuda had been working on implementing an electronic ED card for several years to the extent that the other territories had moved ahead and implemented their own systems.
However, she noted that the new system ArriveAntigua.com has features that utilize AI that no other Caribbean territory has. “We have moved from last to first by our delay in adapting this system,” she explained.
ABAA CEO Wendy Williams also sings the praise of the new system noting that already the feedback from passengers who used it to travel in and out of VCBIA has been overwhelmingly positive.
