The Biden administration has again been urged to end the pre-departure testing requirement for inbound vaccinated air travellers to the US.
Senior leaders from the US Travel Association and Airlines for America had a meeting at the White House on Tuesday where they once again stressed the need for the restriction to be lifted.
US Travel Association president and chief executive Roger Dow said: “It is long past time for the Biden administration to remove the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated air travellers to the US.
“While nearly all other US industries are operating without restrictions, the travel industry remains disproportionately harmed by this requirement, even though the science no longer supports it.”
He added after the meeting: “Other countries with whom we directly compete for global travellers have removed their pre-departure testing requirements and reopened their tourism economies, putting the US at a serious competitive disadvantage for export dollars.
“Further, since the federal government does not require negative tests for entry at our land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico, it no longer makes sense to keep the requirement in place for vaccinated international air travelers to the US. While inflation continues to soar, the administration can take an immediate step in jolting America’s recovery efforts by repealing this outdated requirement.
“The time is now for the Biden administration to eliminate the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated travelers and fully reopen our borders.”
A recent surveys conducted for US Travel of vaccinated international travellers in the UK, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan and India, found that more than half (54%) of international travellers said the added uncertainty of potentially having to cancel a trip due to US pre-departure testing requirements would have a negative impact on their likelihood to visit the US.