U.S. Travel Association urges the Biden administration to repeal the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated international air travelers quickly and accelerate recovery for this critical segment of the U.S. economy.
End Pre-Departure Testing: Travel Industry, Business Organizations Make Urgent Call to the Biden Administration
Major U.S. airlines, business and travel groups and other companies urged the White House on Thursday to abandon COVID-19 pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated international passengers traveling to the United States.
National Travel and Tourism Week 2022 (May 1-7) celebrates the ‘Future of Travel’
“We also continue to urge the administration to immediately end pre-departure testing for vaccinated inbound international passengers, which discourages travel and provides limited public health benefits",Executive vice president of public affairs and policy Tori Emerson Barnes said.
“The travel community appreciates the action by the State Department to streamline the visa application process. It is a step in the right direction and comes at a critical time for rebuilding international travel. The severe backlog in visa applications will require additional focus and resources to help restore inbound travel to its pre-pandemic levels.”
"The historic levels of travel infrastructure investment provided by this act — including for airports, railways, highways, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and more — will accelerate the future of travel mobility", Roger Dow said.
Beginning on Nov. 8, foreign, non-immigrant adults traveling to the United States will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with limited exceptions, and all travelers will need to be tested for the virus before boarding an aircraft to the U.S., with tightened restrictions for those who are not fully vaccinated.
The new rules will apply to Schengen countries - a group of 26 European nations - as well as the UK, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, and South Africa.
