WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Travel Association and Airlines for America once again made their case to the Biden administration that pre-departure testing for inbound vaccinated international air travellers must end.

Senior leaders from the two industry groups met May 31 with White House representatives, to re-state their case.

The testing requirement for inbound international travellers flying into the U.S. has been in place since early 2021.

Following yesterday’s meeting, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued this statement:

“It is long past time for the Biden administration to remove the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated air travellers to the U.S.

“While nearly all other U.S. industries are operating without restrictions, the travel industry remains disproportionately harmed by this requirement, even though the science no longer supports it.

“Other countries with whom we directly compete for global travellers have removed their pre-departure testing requirements and reopened their tourism economies, putting the U.S. at a serious competitive disadvantage for export dollars.

“Further, since the federal government does not require negative tests for entry at our land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico, it no longer makes sense to keep the requirement in place for vaccinated international air travellers to the U.S.

“While inflation continues to soar, the administration can take an immediate step in jolting America’s recovery efforts by repealing this outdated requirement.

“The time is now for the Biden administration to eliminate the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated travellers and fully reopen our borders.”

A May 2022 survey conducted for and cited by the U.S. Travel Association, gathering responses from vaccinated international travellers in France, Germany, the UK, South Korea, Japan and India, indicates that more than half (54%) of international travellers say the added uncertainty of potentially having to cancel a trip due to U.S. pre-departure testing requirements would have a negative impact on their likelihood to visit the U.S.