With the price of gasoline already at levels that are causing many people to reconsider their vacation plans, there could well be yet another obstacle to cross-border tourism in the near future.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that as of Jan. 1, 2008, all Canadians entering the United States will be required to present a valid passport at the port of entry.
Furthermore, even American citizens will be required to have passports when returning from a trip to Canada.
The announcement came as a considerable surprise to many in the tourism industry on both sides of the border here, where people have enjoyed relatively hassle-free cross-border travel for many years.
Among those most likely to be directly affected are tourist outfitters. At least, that’s the opinion of Tom Pearson, president of the North Western Ontario Tourist Association (NWOTA) and owner of Camp Narrows Lodge on Rainy Lake.
Pearson feels the additional burden of having to carry a passport will be a further disincentive to make that quick day trip over to Fort Frances or Rainy River.
“It’s just one more hassle,” Pearson remarked from his office here. “It’s going to stop families for sure, as well as casual, last-minute travellers.”
Pearson said none of his regular customers carry passports and although he feels some will acquire them before the deadline, a sizable percentage of his business could be affected.
“Seventy percent of my customers will come anyway because they’ve been coming for years,” he explained. “But it’s the other 30 percent that I’m going to lose.
“It’s probably the same with others.”
Pearson said 70 percent of his customers book their vacations well in advance, but others often will call on a moment’s notice to see if there is a vacancy.
Those people, he fears, soon will be calling elsewhere.
Pearson also is concerned about other issues that have made a fishing trip here all the more problematic for those, like himself, who depend almost exclusively on American tourists.
“It’s happening already with gas prices,” he remarked. “We should be booming up here, but we’re not. It’s just one more hassle.”
Fort Frances Coun. Tannis Drysdale, a former president of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce (NOACC), shares Pearson’s concerns.
She, too, fears the new requirement could mar the casual, friendly relationship that traditionally has existed between Canada and the U.S.—particularly here in Borderland.
And that could have economic implications, as well.
“It’s going to have a significant detrimental impact on the economy,” Coun. Drysdale predicted Monday. “Some day travellers will be affected, there will be no more impulse travellers.”
Coun. Drysdale said the new rules could create problems for Canadian travellers, as well, since passports must be renewed every five years and there often is a delay of up to three weeks for the processing of a new one.
“There’s always a period when you’re between passports,” she remarked. “What if you have to cross daily to go to work?”
She also expressed some puzzlement at the requirement for American citizens to have passports to re-enter their own country.
“I think people will get used to it eventually, but it will still be an impediment to travel,” she concluded.
Concerns regarding the new rules are not restricted to the Canadian side of the border, either. Barry “Woody” Woods, who owns Woody’s Fairly Reliable Guide Service over in Ranier, Mn., feels a certain loss of connection will be the result when the new rules go into effect.
“It will affect us, it will affect both communities,” Woods predicted from his home Friday.
“I have always considered the tri-cities [Fort Frances, International Falls, and Ranier] to be one community,” he added, pointing out many people on both sides of the border have family on the other side.
“It’s amazing to think that when your relative lives a few blocks away and you’ll need a passport to visit them.”
Woods also said he believes the security concerns are overblown and his government is looking in the wrong places for security threats. “Where they need security is on the coasts, not here,” he argued.
Woods did concede people eventually will make the adjustment—even though he regrets the necessity and hopes the plan will be reviewed.
“At least we have until 2008 to figure it out,” he remarked.
Not everyone is overly concerned, however.
Pete Schultz, director of the International Falls, Ranier, and Rainy Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, acknowledged the new regulations will require people to be more organized in their travel plans, but ultimately they will adjust.
“I believe it will be another layer of paperwork, but it will not really affect cross-border travel,” Schultz stated in an e-mail last Thursday.
“New technology allows the government of either country to quickly confirm the legitimate status of border crossers,” he added. “Frequent border crossings will probably mean some kind of fast-track, or at least I hope so.
“But in general, requiring people to obtain a passport to cross the border is no different than requiring a valid, government-issued I.D.
“Don’t they already ask for a driver’s licence?”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
