US-bound Motorists Cross Border Requirements

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They are geographically united at the hip.

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And these days, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, are limping as they try to boost cross-border tourism.

“All of that has come to a halt,” said Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

“It is essential that he returns to being as normal as possible, as soon as possible.”

She and others say “normal” will not happen as long as Canadians must show a negative test before returning to Canada from a land border trip to the United States.

Monday marked the reopening of the border to land crossings.

“This test is onerous, but hopefully people will think it’s worth the weekend to come and spend some time here in all they miss,” Gallagher said, noting that 10% of season ticket holders of Buffalo Bills are Canadian.

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“What stops are those spontaneous round trips.”

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati fully agreed.

“I am glad that we are on the right track. But there are still some wrinkles that need to be removed, ”he said.

What does he see as the main wrinkle?

“Specifically, the requirement of the PCR test upon entering or re-entering Canada. It will definitely be a hindrance. “

Diodati said he had a remote meeting with local members of Congress Monday morning to discuss ways that governments can facilitate passage across the border.

Before the pandemic, Canadians injected more than $ 1 billion annually into Buffalo’s economy, according to the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, and 13% of people leaving the Buffalo airport were from Canada.

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And many Canadians own property in Florida and other states.

“Although it is a positive step, it is involved in tremendous confusion,” said Wendy Paradis, president of the Association of Travel Agents of Canada.

The travel industry is not yet expecting a sudden southern rush.

“We still have the requirement for the PCR test, which is an incredible challenge and barrier from a cost perspective and from a logistics perspective,” Paradis said.

Diodati hopes the Public Health Agency will reconsider the tests.

“It has been more than devastating: 40,000 people rely on tourism to feed their families,” he said.

Statistics Canada says there were 598,000 ground trips back to Canada in August. In August 2019, the last August before the pandemic, there were 2.3 million overland trips from the US to Canada.