CARIBBEAN INTER-ISLAND travellers are now guaranteed hassle-free travel due to yesterday's implementation of the region's single domestic space.

The single domestic space comes into effect as governments of the region move to create a secure, hassle-free atmosphere for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 which starts in March.

It is one aspect of a security plan for the 49-day tournament which starts March 5 and ends on April 28.

Another feature of this security plan is the implementation of a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) visa which persons from non-exempted countries must get in order to access the islands.

Jamaica and nine other Caribbean countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago along with Dominica - have embarked on a perceived dry run of the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market.

Not required to produce passports

For the period February 1 to May 15, CARICOM nationals, with the exception of Haitians, will not be required to produce passports when they travel in the region.

Similarly, once visitors enter any of the 10 countries, they may travel to others without going through the worries of having their passport stamped more than once.

Edwin Carrington, CARICOM'S secretary general, in a regionally televised address yesterday said the single domestic space does not necessarily mean all persons may make inter-island travel.

"It must be pointed out that this freedom and ease of travel will not be extended to anyone who has been the subject of a deportation order or who was requested to leave one of the participating member states within the last five years or who has otherwise been categorised as a threat to the security of an individual state," he said.

He explained that, under the system, travellers arriving from outside the single space would have their passports stamped at the first port of entry into the domestic space.

"If not a national of an exempt country, they must also have the CARICOM Special Visa or other required documents such as the special entry permit. Thereafter movement within the single domestic space would be as for domestic travellers," he said.