Dec. 1, 2021

By Kathryn Walson

Three associations representing the travel industry have criticized the Biden administration for prohibiting some people from traveling to the U.S. from eight countries in southern Africa. South Africa—one of the countries on the banned list—raised the alarm in November about the new omicron variant. The restrictions, which took effect Nov. 29, do not apply to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents or certain other categories of travelers.

"This swing back to country-specific bans, coming just weeks after the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers, is deeply frustrating and comes just as the industry's recovery was gaining steam," Zane Kerby, CEO of the American Society of Travel Advisors, said in a Nov. 30 statement.

ASTA "urges the Biden Administration and governments across the world to lift these bans as soon as possible," Kerby added. He also called on lawmakers to provide targeted relief to travel agencies.

Global business travel expenditures are expected to rebound just 14% this year from 2020 lows, according to the Global Business Travel Association's recent Business Travel Index. And travel bans are not the answer, according to Suzanne Neufang, GBTA CEO.

"The random opening and closing of global borders" has not helped to mitigate the virus, Neufang said in a Nov. 30 statement. "We encourage countries and governments to work collectively to pursue consistent policies that avoid new travel bans, and instead to focus on individual traveler risk, increased vaccinations and ongoing testing protocols."

The U.S. Travel Association also urged the federal government "to revisit the reinstatement of country-specific entry bans in the near term," the group's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes said in a Nov. 28 statement.

"With a vaccine and testing requirement in place to enter the U.S. we continue to believe that assessing an individual's risk and health status is the best way to welcome qualified global travelers into the United States," Barnes continued.

As of Dec. 1, the omicron variant had been found in Canada, at least 10 European countries, Australia, Israel, Japan, Brazil, Hong Kong and other countries, according to news reports.

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