(February 2007)

Fact Sheet
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

Background
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) was created by the Departments of State and Homeland Security in response to Section 7209 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act – approved by Congress and signed by the President in late 2004. Following up on a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, Congress acted to remove the Western Hemisphere Exception ("Loophole") – a rule permitting returning U.S. travelers and some foreign nationals to present driver's licenses and/or birth certificates upon entering the United States.

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative would require all travelers, including U.S. citizens, to and from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted document that establishes identity and citizenship to enter or re-enter the United States. The U.S. travel industry supports WHTI and believes border security will be enhanced by allowing Customs and Border Protection officers to examine fewer types of more secure travel documents. Still, we have expressed concern about the possible impact of WHTI on cross-border travel if not implemented in a realistic time frame with adequate preparation on the part of government and travelers.

The Travel Industry Association (TIA) and the Travel Business Roundtable (TBR), Public Affairs Strategic Partners, have issued joint, formal comments on three occasions as it relates to the proposed WHTI program: (1) Comments in response to the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 10/31/05; (2) Comments in response to the proposed rule for Air and Sea Travel on 9/22/06; and (3) Comments on the proposed rule for the Passport Card on 1/7/07. Many other organizations within travel and tourism, and the business community in general, have also filed comments that offered similar recommendations.

We have been especially concerned about the possible impact on inbound travel from Canada, which is our largest international travel market in terms of actual visitors (more than 14 million or 30 percent of all international visitors to the U.S. in 2005). NOTE: WHTI has no practical impact on inbound travel from Mexico because Mexican nationals currently possess appropriate secure travel documents that qualify under WHTI

Some of our recommendations and requests have included: (1) The need for a full cost-benefit analysis of the impact of WHTI; (2) The use of discretion in determining which documents qualify; (3) The development of low-cost alternative documents for both U.S. and Canadian travelers; (4) Price incentives for the distribution of U.S. passports; (5) Examination of the possible use of state/provincial driver's licenses; and (6) The need for a well-funded, aggressive outreach and communication campaign by the federal government.

In January 2006, the federal government unveiled its plans for a proposed Passport Card, which is designed to be an inexpensive and secure biometric travel card that will serve as an alternative to the traditional book-style passport. This would be made available to U.S. citizens, and was originally proposed for land border crossings only (sea travel was permitted as a result of subsequent actions by Congress in late 2006).

In our January 2007 comments, TIA and TBR expressed support for the Passport Card, but also detailed some concerns. We requested that the federal government continue to seek ways to drive down the cost of the Passport Card further; launch a more aggressive outreach campaign in conjunction with the private sector to explain the costs, benefits and limitations of this alternative document; and cooperate more fully with Canada in assisting them to develop an identical or similar low-cost alternative travel document as a means for facilitating Canadian travel to the United States.

Major Congressional Action in 2006

Responding to industry lobbying led by TIA and TBR and constituent concern, during the close of the 109th Congress' regular session, lawmakers acted to extend the WHTI deadline for sea and land border travel to occur not later than June 2009, and also required that the Passport Card to be accepted for cruise (sea) travel. Congress also created seven-point criteria which the federal agencies must meet before commencing with implementation of the land/sea phase of WHTI. This was a significant win for the travel industry, and for continued facilitation of cross-border travel and trade.

Current Status

The current proposal rolls out WHTI in two phases, covering both air travel and sea/land border travel, with the timeline as follows:

• January 23, 2007 – Requirement applied to all air travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda.
  
• Date Undetermined (not later than June 1, 2009) – The WHTI requirement as it applies to all sea (cruise) and land border travel will commence absolutely no later than June 1, 2009, but the federal government could begin implementation at some point in 2008.

New Passport Website

In order to encourage Western Hemisphere travelers to obtain passports, TIA and TBR launched a new website in late 2006 – www.GetAPassportNow.com. This site provides links to the U.S., Canadian and Mexican passport agencies to help expedite travelers who wish to either renew or get a passport for the first time. This site has proven to be wildly popular, and is just one part of the industry's contribution to travel outreach and communication.

Outlook

As expected, the January 23 deadline date for implementation of WHTI for air travel came and went with practically no disruption to travel as nearly all air travelers in the Western Hemisphere already possess passports. In fact, the compliance rate to date with the passport requirement is 98.9%.

Concerning the upcoming sea and land border travel deadline, there is concern and some confusion since no specific date is set. We are encouraging the federal government to use the congressionally mandated time to sufficiently prepare for and adequately educate the traveling public of the new requirements. We are also working with government officials to jointly communicate to travelers about how phase two (sea/land) will be implemented.

Contact: Rick Webster (202-408-2163 or rwebster@tia.org) or Melissa Gong (202-408-2137 or MGong@tia.org)