The Government of Canada announced its plan to open its borders first for fully vaccinated American travelers starting from Aug. 9, 2021, and later open all other nationalities that are fully vaccinated, starting Sept. 7.
U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the lifting of restrictions for fully vaccinated American travelers at the Canada land border:
“Today, Canada begins welcoming fully vaccinated Americans back across the land border. This wise decision will spur the kind of economic recovery for our northern neighbor that’s critically needed on this side of the border as well.
“Reopening the U.S. land border to fully vaccinated Canadians would mark a good starting point towards rebuilding our own travel economy, and the Biden administration should reciprocate this policy decision – given the high rate of vaccination across Canada – without further delay.
“Every month that travel remains stagnant, the U.S. loses $1.5 billion in potential travel exports and leaves countless American businesses vulnerable.
“Canada is America’s largest international travel market source and accounted for 26 percent of all inbound traffic in 2019, worth $22 billion in annual export income. Even if travel from Canada returns to just half of 2019 levels for the rest of 2021, the United States will reap nearly $5 billion – if U.S. policy permits.
“Emergence from this pandemic will continue to be a complex and evolving process. The best response from the White House would be to set rational policies regarding international travel to serve as a model for a world safely and responsibly reopening.”
Not only Canadians but under the current rules, virtually all residents of Europe’s Schengen Area, Britain and Ireland are still barred from traveling to the U.S. With fears of the Delta variant raging, there appears to be no end in sight, dismaying Europeans and frustrating the continent’s leaders, who are demanding that Europe’s decision to open its borders be reciprocated.
“We insist comparable rules be applied to arrivals in both directions,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said last week. Officials within the bloc have suggested reimposing travel restrictions against U.S. travelers since the EU has already opened its borders to Americans.
