News Headline | Still no news on US passport deferral

From Cayman Net News:

Still no news on US passport deferral

The Cayman Islands is still waiting for an answer from the United States as to whether the US will defer the 1 January 2007 date on which US citizens travelling to the Caribbean will be required to have passports.

If Minister of Tourism, Honourable Charles Clifford, and his other Caribbean tourism partners, don't get their way with the deferral, they see serious problems affecting tourism industries within the next five months in the region.

Based on his recent visit to Washington DC Mr Clifford reported in the Legislative Assembly on 28 July 2006 that there was "no definitive answer" coming from the "rounds of talks" in which he participated.

Even without a final answer, however, Mr Clifford said he was hopeful for a review of the matter, and that the implementation would be deferred.

Mr Clifford based his positive outlook on his view that the, "key bipartisan Senate and Congressional Representatives" with whom the discussions were held on Capitol Hill were "particularly sensitive to the issues this (the policy) created for Caribbean destinations, as well as the cruise industry."

At this time, the best hopes of Mr Clifford and his Caribbean colleagues is that the US decision makers will agree with doing away with the phased-in proposal and according to Mr Clifford "support a common implementation deadline of 1 January 2008 or later."

The passport-requirement - officially called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) - first came about in 2004 through a US Intelligence Reform Bill.

The Bill stipulates that by 1 January 2008, all US citizens travelling within the Western Hemisphere require a passport, or "other accepted document," to do so.

From the very early stages Mr Clifford viewed the policy as unwelcome - especially against the background that it could be a deterrent to tourists travelling to the region, and, ultimately have a detrimental effect on the all-important tourism industry here.

The problems with the new passport rules are even worse for the Caribbean because, with the US' proposed "phased-in" approach to implementation, the Caribbean was first identified to have the rule implemented as early as 1 January 2006.

Mr Clifford, along with Caribbean tourism partners - the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) - argued against the early implementation date, by writing to the US Secretary of State and members of the US Congress.

Those efforts resulted in a one-year deferral from the initial 2006 date over to the existing 1 January 2007 date.

Mr Clifford however said that even this 2007 date is seen as "problematic for a number of very critical reasons."

He supported this statement by referring to issues such as the expense to family-based travel for getting passports for each member; unfair competition for the countries that have the date implemented earlier, rather than at 1 January 2008; the issue of unexpected and increased costs for travellers that have already made their 2007 arrangements; and, advantageously unfair competition for drive-to destinations like Canada and Mexico, versus Caribbean islands, that are totally dependent on air and sea transport as the sole means of access.

Speaking on 28 July, Mr Clifford described the passport policy as a "significant threat" and "an unacceptable risk", and said that because of the importance of the matter, "Cayman has joined with the CTO, the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL), and, other leading travel organisations in opposing the plan.

Also with reference to manpower for the negotiations, Mr Clifford revealed that he attended the recent meetings accompanied by Tourism Ministry's Acting Permanent Secretary, Gloria McField-Nixon.

However, even with that list, Opposition Leader, McKeeva Bush asked if lobbyists had been employed "to assist with the US passport matter." Mr Clifford said that Cayman had not employed a lobby firm but the CTO and the ICCL had employed a lobbying firm on behalf of the entire group.

Mr Clifford also explained that while Cayman waited for a response on the matter, the Department of Tourism (DOT) was working with the Immigration Department and Cruise Lines to "continue to monitor the threat to Cayman's visitor arrivals."

The DOT is also advising potential US visitors through points-of-sale such as travel agents and websites, that a passport will be required for future travel to the region.

Mr Clifford singled out the Cruise industry, in particular, as being "negatively impacted by the proposal in its current form."

His basis for this is that initial DOT figures show that the percentage of non-passport holders amongst cruise line travellers is higher than amongst stay over visitors where "the clear majority, approximately 80 per cent, currently travel on passports."

These facts present a worrying picture for Cayman - a destination for which the recently tabled final Annual Economic Report for 2005 showed a struggling industry.

Final figures show that Air Arrivals suffered a major decrease of 35.4 per cent - to register at 167,801.

Additionally, cruise arrivals showed only a slight upward movement of 6.2 per cent, to reach approximately 1.8 million.

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