Travel industry leaders are calling on the White House to set a May 1 deadline for developing a plan to reopen international travel this summer.
A coalition of 26 companies and organizations representing airlines, unions and travel advisors sent a letter to White House Covid-19 response team coordinator Jeffrey Zients on Monday, asking the Biden administration to partner with the industry to craft a "a risk-based, data-driven roadmap to rescind inbound, international travel restrictions."
"The roadmap to safely reopen international travel should be finalized before May 1, 2021, so that a plan is in place to reopen by the summer of 2021 if vaccine distribution and epidemiological trends continue in a positive direction," the letter said.
"The need for a data-driven, risk-based roadmap to reopen international travel is urgent. In 2020, overseas travel to the U.S. declined by 81%, while travel from Mexico was down by 62% and Canada by 77%, causing a loss of $146 billion to the U.S. economy.
"If nothing is done to lift international travel bans and bring back demand, the U.S. Travel Association estimates that a total of a 1.1 million American jobs will not be restored and $262 billion in export spending will be lost by the end of 2021. However, if travel from the top inbound markets to the U.S is able to safely resume by July 4, 2021, and reach an average of 40% of 2019 levels for the remainder of this year, it would accelerate economic recovery by adding $30 billion in incremental spending and bringing back 225,000 American jobs."
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The plan, the coalition said, should continue the mandate for inbound travelers to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test, but with an exemption for vaccinated travelers.
The group also called on the administration to provide global leadership to develop uniform health credentials for travelers, begin bilateral negotiations to ease travel restrictions through public health corridors, develop clear benchmarks and a transparent framework for determining when all inbound international travel restrictions can be lifted and prioritize the resumption of international travel on the agenda of the upcoming G-7 meeting of the world's leading industrial nations.
"To be clear, at this time, we do not support removal or easing of core public health protections, such as the universal mask mandate, inbound international testing requirement, physical distancing or other measures that have made travel safer and reduced transmission of the virus," the letter said. "However, the data and science demonstrate that the right public health measures are now in place to effectively mitigate risk and allow for the safe removal of entry restrictions."