Border changes to hurt Canadians more
17 August 2006
Border changes to hurt Canadians more
This article is extracted from the 17 August 2006 edition of “globeandmail.com”. Information on US Customs’ Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is available on the US Customs and Border Protection web site, at http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/west_hemisphere/.
The U.S. government has confirmed what many Canadian officials and business people have long feared— that the economic burden of the border-passport requirement will weigh more heavily on Canada than on the United States.
Washington says its plan to require passport-like documents on cross-border traffic beginning in 2008 will have “marginal” impact on the United States because it expects more Americans to spend their travel money at home, and estimates that much of the measure's negative impact will fall on businesses outside the country.
The analysis, released by the Departments of State and Homeland Security last week, is included in the proposed passport rule for sea and air passengers, published on Friday. Those rules, which will require travellers entering the United States by aircraft or ship from Canada, Mexico and Bermuda to show passports at U.S. border points, come into effect on Jan. 8, 2007. A similar requirement at land border points is due to come into force Jan. 1, 2008.
The report estimates there will be direct costs of $941-million (U.S.) resulting from the new rule because it believes that six million Americans will have to buy new passports to satisfy the requirement in 2007. But it shies away from any detailed analysis of the indirect costs on the travel and tourism business, saying that in the end, the net impact will be minimal….
“It's already severely impacted us,” said Carolyn Bones, president of the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, noting that cross-border traffic is down because many Americans think the passport rule is already in effect. She cited Ontario government statistics that show U.S. visits to the province declined by 9 per cent between May of 2004 and May, 2005, and said she believes the Niagara area has suffered another 5-per-cent drop in U.S. visits this year.
Ms. Bones said far fewer Americans than Canadians have passports (between 25 and 30 per cent of Americans have passports, compared with close to 40 per cent for Canadians). And with a hunker-down mentality, Americans are unlikely to feel much incentive to shell out $97 for an adult passport or $82 for a child's passport simply to travel to Canada.
“The U.S. population is already cocooning, nesting. Ever since 9/11, there's been this desire to stay home and it's getting worse. In 2008, when this hits, we'll see even fewer Americans crossing the border,” Ms. Bones said.
The fear is that a U.S. skier unwilling to put up with the expense and inconvenience of buying a passport for a trip to Whistler will simply opt to stay home and ski at Aspen or Vail. Canadians, on the other hand, who want to travel south in the winter, have no similar option at home. And if they want to go south, the alternatives to Florida or Arizona in Mexico or the Dominican Republic already require a passport….