Early November’s lifting of international travel restrictions is projected to stimulate the US economy, particularly for tourist locations such as New York and corporate travel.
On Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated that the Biden administration’s plan to ease international travel restrictions in early November will benefit the US economy, particularly for tourist locations such as New York and business travel. Raimondo praised the government’s decision on Monday to enable fully vaccinated foreign nationals to fly to the US “is enormous. I believe it will have a significant positive impact on our economy, as well as travel, tourism, and hospitality.”
To combat Covid-19 fears, the US has prevented most foreign nationals who have recently visited 33 countries, including China, South Africa, Brazil, India, and much of Europe, from entering the country. According to Zeints, fully vaccinated travelers will not be required to quarantine. He also stated that US President Joe Biden will mandate that airlines acquire contact information from international travelers in order to facilitate contact tracking.
Since March 2020, the US side of the Canada-US land border has been blocked. On August 9, Canada reopened its border to fully immunized American travelers. On Sept. 7, Canada reopened to all fully immunized foreign nationals.
The government of Canada has maintained its recommendation against all non-essential travel. Also today, the United States prolonged its land border shutdown with Canada until October 21 for the second time. If the United States finally opens its land border with Canada in November, the main concern for many Canadians planning trips to the United States in the coming months will be whether the United States will amend its attitude to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as mixed dosages. AstraZeneca vaccine was given to about 2 million Canadians, and almost 4 million received mixed dosage immunizations. The new restrictions, which will take effect in November, just in time for the Christmas travel season, have been well received by the tourism sector.
“The United States Travel Association appreciates the Biden administration’s unveiling of a roadmap to restore air travel to vaccinated individuals from throughout the world,” said Roger Dow, president, and CEO of the United States Travel Association. “This is a watershed moment in the virus’s control, and it will hasten the recovery of millions of travel-related jobs that have been lost as a result of international travel restrictions.”
Many other countries had already lifted such limitations, thus the move was hailed by allies. Travelers from much of the world, including tens of thousands of foreign people with families or business ties in the United States, have been excluded under US restrictions.
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