Tourism groups push US to eliminate travel restrictions

Airlines and other tourism-related businesses are pushing the White House to draw up a plan in the next five weeks to boost international travel and eliminate restrictions that were imposed early in the pandemic.

More than two dozen groups made their request in a letter to the White House on Monday.

They want people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to be exempt from testing requirements before entering the United States. They also want the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to say that vaccinated people can travel safely.

The groups say those and other steps will speed up the recovery of the travel and airline industries, which have been devastated by a plunge in travel during the pandemic.

U.S. air travel is already picking up. More than 1 million people have passed through U.S. airport checkpoints each of the last 11 days, with Sunday's total topping more than 1.5 million for the first time in more than a year. Passenger traffic is still below 2019 levels, however.

The organizations calling for relaxing international restrictions include the chief trade group for the nation's largest carriers, Airlines for America, the U.S. Travel Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They set a May 1 target for the government “to partner with us” on a plan to rescind year-old restrictions on international travel.

The groups cited the recent decline in reported new cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States. Nearly 45 million Americans, more than 13% of the population, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to CDC figures.

“The time to plan for and chart a defined roadmap to reopen international travel is now,” they wrote in a letter to White House virus-response coordinator Jeffrey Zients.

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