New rules scuttle U.S.-Canada travel

New passport rules are keeping Americans at home, with June numbers showing that travel to Canada from the United States fell to its lowest level since Statistics Canada started tracking cross-border trips in 1972.

The number of same-day car trips from the United States was down 26 percent in June from May, while the overall number of U.S. tourists plummeted to about half of what it was five years ago.

The dramatic drop in travel across the U.S.-Canada border shows that the fears of many in the tourism industry in both countries are coming to pass. After the tougher passport rules were announced in 2005 as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, many industry groups warned that the regulations would further discourage Americans already reluctant to travel due to the high dollar and gas prices.

Efforts by Canadian provincial ministers and groups to lobby the U.S. government to scrap the program in favor of introducing more sophisticated ID cards were unsuccessful. As of last year, about 70 percent of Canada’s $75-billion tourism industry depended on U.S. travel.

The passport rules appear to have triggered the sharp fall-off. But other factors, including the recession and the higher Canadian dollar have also dampened Americans’ enthusiasm for traveling north.

Travel from the United States hit a peak in 2002, when about 43 million Americans crossed the border, but since then, it has eroded. One reason for the decline in recent years, said Randy Williams, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, was the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Two years ago, passports became mandatory for cross-border air travel, and the original plan would have required passports for land crossings as of Jan. 1, 2008.

While that was delayed, confusion over the need for travel documents kept some people home, Williams said.

“Only about 30 percent of Americans have a passport, so that limits the number we can attract into Canada,” he said.

At the Seacrest Motel and RV Park in British Columbia, manager Nina Bartnick has already seen the number of U.S. vacationers plummet, with fewer and fewer coming from the Peace Arch border crossing a few miles away. Last summer, and for many summers past, Bartnick could count on Americans for the bulk of her business, as most spent a night or two on their way to Vancouver, checking in to rest up after a long drive and take a dip at nearby White Rock Beach.

This summer, just 10 percent of her business has been from Americans, down from 60 percent, Bartnick said. “It used to be normal to see American license plates,” she said. “But now I see one and I think, ‘Oh look, it’s an American!”’