Though travelers from abroad account for just one-fifth of the city’s visitors, they generate 50 percent of the city’s tourism spending, according to NYC & Company, the city’s tourism promotion agency. In New York alone, the absence of tourists in 2020 resulted in a loss of $60 billion in revenue and wiped out 89,000 jobs across retail, arts, culture, hotels and transportation, the state comptroller found. Eager to make up for lost time, tourists traveling on Monday had packed itineraries, from Broadway shows in New York and family days at Disney World in Florida to bingo nights in Arizona. The policy shift has come in time for the holiday season, when the beleaguered tourism industry is eagerly awaiting an influx of international visitors, especially in popular big-city destinations. They were welcomed by dozens of airline staff who beamed and waved American flags. The United States reopened its borders for vaccinated foreign travelers on Monday, ending more than 18 months of restrictions on international travel that separated families and cost the global travel industry hundreds of billions of dollars.īefore dawn on Monday, thousands of passengers flocked into Heathrow Airport for the first flights to the United States out of London.
Jason Wells, executive director of the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce, said that local businesses had suffered $1.3 billion in lost sales because of border restrictions that he called “discrimination against tourism.” Another, closed throughout the travel ban, is blocked by an encampment of asylum seekers, who still cannot cross freely.Īt a news conference, local officials and business leaders in San Ysidro, a section of the city of San Diego, said the reopening was badly needed on both sides of the border. Though all the car lanes at San Ysidro were in use on Monday, only one pedestrian entrance was open. “I have a lot of shopping to do - video games, clothes, things you can’t get in Mexico,” he said. He waited in line for a certificate, just in case it would make a difference.
Mexican officials encouraged people to get the certificates and be included in a national database, even though the vaccination slips given out by doctors when shots are administered would be equally valid for crossing the border.Ĭarlos Gutiérrez, a dentist, didn’t want to take any chances. People hoping to visit the United States waited for hours last week to apply for vaccination certificates at Health Ministry offices in Tijuana. “I’m going right now because I don’t need permission to, because I can,” she said. Though the United States hasn’t authorized its use, the World Health Organization has, so it is being accepted at the border. Maria, who was on her way to see her granddaughter in Los Angeles and declined to give her last name, said she had received the Sinovac vaccine from China. In the days before the reopening, there was some confusion among Mexicans over which vaccines would be accepted and what proof would be required.
“I feel very happy to be able to move forward with my life,” Yadira Perdomo said. They got in line at the crossing at 3 a.m. They moved to Baja California two months ago to await the day when the border would open to fully vaccinated visitors. Some noncitizens were able to receive medical exemptions to enter the United States during the travel ban, but the sisters wanted to cross together. She crossed the border early on Monday in a wheelchair pushed by her sister Hannah Perdomo. Yadira Perdomo, who is Colombian, had received experimental medical treatment in Los Angeles but had not been able to see her doctor there for a follow-up. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days. Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.