Canadian Travel Research Institute
(The Conference Board of Canada)

(Editing)

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative:
A New Era in Cross-Border Travel

In June of 2005, The Conference Board of Canada published The Potential Impact of a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Passport Requirement on Canada’s Tourism Industry. This report provided Canada’s tourism industry with its first objective assessment of the impact that the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) could have on Canada–U.S. travel. The following article provides an updated analysis as a result of recent revisions to the WHTI and changes in the external environment.

Ever since the U.S. Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act introduced the WHTI, the subject of secure documentation for travellers has generated considerable debate in both Canada and the United States. Now, the debate is focused on the possibility of postponing implementation.

As the WHTI now stands, starting January 1, 2007, all air and sea travellers from Canada will require a passport to enter the United States. By January 1, 2008, all travellers, whether by air, sea or land, will require a passport or other accepted travel documents to enter or re-enter the U.S. Although the U.S. Senate voted in May 2006 to delay the WHTI’s land-border requirements by 17 months, that amendment was only one part of a larger immigration bill that still has many hurdles to overcome before it becomes law.

An earlier WHTI debate surrounded the bill’s requirement for American cross-border travellers to carry passports. This led to the regulations being changed to include identity cards as a lower-cost alternative for travel between the U.S. and Canada.

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