After some shuffling around, the Dept. of Homeland Security has set 23 January as the new starting date for a regulation requiring airline passengers entering the US by air within the Western Hemisphere to possess a valid passport.
The new date for the regulation, referred to as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, was the result of a delay in the rulemaking process that pushed back the original earlier start date by two weeks.
However, the passport requirement does not apply to US citizens visiting Puerto Rico and/or the U.S. Virgin Islands as they are U.S. territories.
For cruise and land passengers, the passport requirement takes effect in June of 2009, although that date could be moved up to as early as January of 2008, security officials said.
The new passport rule for air passengers has raised the ire of the Caribbean tourism industry, which fears island destinations will lose business as travelers without passports decide to go elsewhere.
Officials of the Caribbean Tourism Organization said the two-week delay in implementation was no help at all, saying:
“It will only create further confusion in the marketplace among both consumers and airlines, which have to police this measure. This helps no one.”
The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) was just as blunt in its assessment of the date change.
“The new date does not make any difference as it relates to the increased potential economic damage to land-based tourism due to the exemption given cruise lines,” the CHA said.
Report by David Wilkening
