On September 20th the White House announced that it would be lifting travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers from 33 countries on November 8th. The new rules would allow fully vaccinated travelers to enter the US by air with a negative COVID test taken within 3 days of departure.
This is potentially huge news for the US travel industry, airlines and global travelers, but what will this actually mean? We take a look.
What’s Different?
The new rules will replace the current restrictions enacted on January 25, 2021 which prevent anyone from entering the US if they had been in 33 specific countries within the last 14 days. This was seen as overly broad by many in the tourism sector, especially in light of easing restrictions in the UL, EU and Canada.
So What Will The Impact Be?
These changes were welcomed by travel and tourism organizations and associations when they were announced.
U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said that, “The U.S. Travel Association applauds the Biden administration’s announcement of a roadmap to reopen air travel to vaccinated individuals from around the world, which will help revive the American economy and protect public health.” He called the changes, “a major turning point in the management of the virus and will accelerate the recovery of the millions of travel-related jobs that have been lost due to international travel restrictions.”
What Is Changing?
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients announced the new policies on September 20th. As restrictions will be partially lifted for foreign arrivals the Biden administration will also tighten testing rules for unvaccinated American citizens, who will need to be tested within a day before returning to the U.S., as well as after they arrive home.
According to Zients, fully vaccinated passengers will not be required to quarantine. This marks a major shift in US policy and may be the start of normalizing international travel.
According to Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, who called the announcement is a major step forward, “Allowing access to the US for those vaccinated will open travel to the US for many who have been locked out for the past 18 months. This is excellent news for families and loved ones who have suffered through the heartache and loneliness of separation. It’s good for the millions of livelihoods in the US that depend on global tourism. And it will boost the economic recovery by enabling some key business travel markets.”
As with everything in life the devil is in the details, so stay tuned as we will bring you updated news as it happens.
