Holland America Line’s boss has admitted he wanted the US travel ban lifted sooner – but “absolutely” believes the decision by the Biden administration will drive sales.
Last week, US president Joe Biden announced that the ban would be scrapped from early November. It had prevented most Britons and Europeans from travelling to the US for 18 months.
People without US citizenship, green cards or specific exemptions were not allowed into the country if they had been to the UK or the Schengen area.
Prior to Monday’s announcement, HAL cancelled “hundreds” of Europeans and Canadians booked on new ship Rotterdam’s transatlantic sailing from Amsterdam to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on October 20.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, president Gus Antorcha said the decision had been “very painful”.
He added the ban in recent weeks had not made much sense due to the Delta variant spike on both sides of the Atlantic.
Antorcha said: “I wish they would have done it a few weeks earlier because we had to cancel hundreds of European guests on the Rotterdam.
“If you think about it, you’re going from Europe to the US, I’ve flown back and forth and those planes are full.
“Both North America and Europe were experiencing high levels of Covid so what were we really trying to protect? Each country needs to do what they think is right.
“I am very happy that barrier came down, but it was not in time for the Europeans and Canadians booked on Rotterdam.”
He added: “We think it was the right decision. We absolutely think it will drive bookings and travel.”
Antorcha said the line’s sailings in Asia had proven popular with passengers looking to book departures “further afield” in 2022 or 2023.
“We’ve had so many cancellations in the near term but if you look at 2022-23 there’s absolute demand and we’re selling those well,” he said.
“The challenge in the near term is uncertainty. We’ve just had a virus and a Delta [variant] spike, policy changes onboard, and there’s uncertainty as far as requirements for different countries. It’s all fluid. If there’s uncertainty, it makes it a little harder to travel.”