How COVID-19 travel restrictions are hurting border towns

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How COVID-19 travel restrictions are hurting border towns

El Paso, Texas — About a mile from the Paso Del Norte International Bridge, which connects downtown El Paso to Mexico, Emilio Mendiola sorts neon snapbacks into bins labeled reading “Special $2.99 plus Tax,” — and what was 90% of his business.

“I’m not kidding. It’s that bad.” The manager of “Mr. Hats” has let go of all but two of his full-time employees since the international bridges closed to noncitizens whose travel into the U.S. is deemed nonessential. The closure has shut down tourism, shopping and dining business from the neighboring Mexican city of Juárez that once fueled rows of El Paso’s vendors — and it has cost Mendiola 90% of his business. Nearly 33.6 million people crossed international bridges into El Paso from Mexico in 2019, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

A customer browses bins at “Mr. Hats” in downtown El Paso, Texas on July 10,

US-Canada border reopening update: Canada to allow vaccinated American citizens in commencing Aug. 9

TORONTO — Canada introduced Monday it will start off allowing absolutely vaccinated U.S. citizens into Canada on Aug. 9, and those from the rest of the environment on Sept. 7.

Officers reported the 14-day quarantine need will be waived as of Aug. 9 for qualified vacationers who are at present residing in the United States and have acquired a complete study course of a COVID-19 vaccine accepted for use in Canada.

Community Protection Minister Monthly bill Blair, who claimed he spoke with U.S. Homeland Stability Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday, explained the U.S. has not yet indicated any program to modify recent limitations at the land border. Canadians are in a position to fly into the United States with a adverse COVID-19 examination.

Requested in Washington if the U.S. would reciprocate, White Residence push secretary Jen Psaki stated, “We are continuing to overview our travel limits. Any conclusions about resuming

by Shante Abdo — July 19, 2021 in Travel Update

‘Leaky’ Canada-U.S. border needs a reopening plan urgently, tourism experts plead

Monthly extensions of Canada-U.S. border restrictions, paired with continued promises of updates to border and travel regulations “in the coming weeks,” have left travel and tourism destinations with questions about when international visitors will be welcome.

For Niagara Falls, which normally sees about 14 million visitors a year, almost 30 per cent are from the U.S., making up about 50 per cent of revenue.

“More than 152 million people live within a one day or less drive of Niagara Falls, that’s our market,” Janice Thomson, President & CEO of Niagara Falls Tourism told Yahoo Canada. “So we’ve been able to draw on that large market, traditionally, but now that the American and the international travel has been cut off completely, we’re relying entirely on our domestic visitors.”

“[The American visitors] tend to spend more money, they stay longer in the destination and so that makes them extremely important to

Canada Border Journey Restrictions Update

Critical travel restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, initial instituted in March 2020, concerning the United States and Canada (and Mexico), will continue until eventually July 21, 2021, or be lifted faster for totally vaccinated people. This is welcome information for communities on both of those sides of the Northern Border that have been sensation the familial and financial soreness.

Not only are Canadians and Us residents missing their relatives users and mates who reside on the other side of the border, but a lot of of the little U.S. towns alongside the Northern Border have endured from the disruption of “a symbiotic relationship” with Canadian people. For the reason that costs on prevalent shopper products these types of as gasoline and milk are significantly reduce in the United States, Canadians used to be able to just cross the border for buys. But because of to travel restrictions, income

by Shante Abdo — July 4, 2021 in Travel Update

With travel restrictions barely easing, U.S.-Canada border towns stuck in economic limbo

BLAINE — At Border Mailbox and Parcel, just minutes from the U.S.-Canada border, owner Doug Hornsby all but trips over the economic fallout of the pandemic every time he comes to work.

Before COVID-19, Hornsby’s customers were primarily Canadians who used his Blaine address for their online purchases to take advantage of cheaper U.S. shipping.

But that bit of globalization ground to a halt in March 2020, when the pandemic shut the border to nonessential travelers — and turned Hornsby’s shop into a kind of package purgatory, with thousands of unretrieved purchases.

“I have stuff that’s been here 16 months,” the 71-year-old grouses as he steps around a 65-inch flat screen TV that showed up last spring and hasn’t moved since.

Nor is it clear when it will move. Canada recently announced it will start easing some border restrictions, on July 5. But other restrictions have been extended through July

by Shante Abdo — June 26, 2021 in Costo Travel