Officials to drop travel test condition

South Florida tourism to rise as international US flight policy changes

South Florida’s tourism industry got a major lift on Friday after the U.S. government pledged to drop COVID testing requirements for international travelers flying from foreign cities.

The requirement called for U.S.-bound passengers to take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights. It was one of the last remaining government mandates designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The change is viewed by travel industry leaders as a critical move toward restoring a key missing link that had been dogging airlines, airports and cities reliant on tourism for more than two years. South Florida’s three international airports in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami all serve airlines that arrive from foreign destinations in North and South America and Europe.

“Lifting this policy will help encourage and restore air travel to the United States, benefiting communities across the country that rely heavily on travel and tourism to support their local economies,” said Nicholas E. Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, an industry trade group in Washington. “We are eager to welcome the millions of travelers who are ready to come to the U.S. for vacation, business and reunions with loved ones.”

Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, the tourism promotion agency for Broward County, said the move “couldn’t have come at a better time. This is really a good time for it to be lifted.”

“It’s definitely impacted international air travel, there is no question

about it,” she added. “This is really the last remaining restriction which is now being repealed. It can only have a positive economic impact for us.”

In effect, a resurgence in international travelers will help fill an anticipated void that’s expected from a cooling of a monthslong hot tourism market.

“There will be a softening in the market,” she said. “Rates are really high and that is impacting people’s travel plans. Right now, the price of gas does not seem to be affecting people’s travel plans, but the rates of hotel rooms are. The level of travel we are seeking now is not sustainable. It is an overheated market.”

The lifting of the rule also comes just in time for Norse Atlantic Airways, a Norwegian-based carrier that is starting direct flights June 20 between Fort Lauderdale and Paris.

“People want to travel nonstop,” Ritter said. “That will help considerably. We’ve never had nonstop service from Paris, and we will have an entirely new market to promote our destination.”

Plenty of local airline capacity

In recent years, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has risen in stature for international air travel as Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines expanded their route systems to Latin America and the Caribbean.

As travel demand has rebounded over the last year, many international airlines serving Miami International Airport have added flights from Europe and elsewhere. But the testing requirement has served as a barrier for many travelers, industry officials say.

American Airlines, the predominant carrier at Miami International Airport through its vast Latin American and Caribbean hub, hailed the decision Friday but suggested its passengers should continue to wear masks.

“We’re grateful to President Biden and to everyone who advocated for this important step forward for the travel and tourism industry’s continued recovery,” the airline said in a statement. “With the widespread availability of effective treatment options and vaccines, we believe this is the right time for this decision.

“We are eager to see more of our customers return to international travel and will continue to create a welcoming environment for those who choose to wear a face mask during their travels.”

Lifting the requirement

The COVID testing mandate expires at 12:01 a.m. Sunday EDT, according to Associated Press, citing a senior Biden administration official who said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that the tests are no longer necessary.

Last year, the administration imposed the testing requirement as it moved away from restrictions that banned nonessential travel from several dozen countries — most of Europe, China, Brazil, South Africa, India and Iran.

Instead, the focus shifted to classifying individuals by the risk they pose to others.

The administration official, speaking Friday on the condition of anonymity to preview the formal announcement, said that the agency would reevaluate the need for the testing requirement every 90 days and that it could be reinstated if a troubling new variant emerges.

A toughened mandate

The initial mandate allowed those who were fully vaccinated to show proof of a negative test within three days of travel, while unvaccinated people had to present a test taken within one day of travel.

In November, as the highly transmissible omicron variant swept the world, the Biden administration toughened the requirement and required all travelers, regardless of vaccination status, to test within a day of travel to the U.S.

Airline and tourism groups have been pressing the administration for months to eliminate the testing requirement, saying it is discouraging people from booking international trips. Many other countries have lifted their testing requirements for fully vaccinated and boosted travelers in a bid to increase tourism.

In February, the groups argued the testing requirement was obsolete because of the high number of omicron cases already in every state, higher vaccination rates and new treatments for the virus.

This week, Ralph Cutié, director and CEO at Miami International, told a U.S. Senate subcommittee on tourism, trade, and export promotion that COVID had short-circuited the airport’s ambitions to expand its route network “with direct passenger and cargo access to all world regions.” The airport hosts 96 airlines, 61 of them from other countries.

“COVID-19 put an immediate halt to our vision,” he said. “From a record-setting 47 million passengers in 2019, MIA experienced empty terminals and empty aircraft. If not for the financial assistance provided by Congress, MIA along with every other airport in this country would not have been in the position to restart our industry.”

He said that domestic visitors made up much of the deficit created by a lack of visitors from Europe and Canada, but Latin American markets filled in a sizable gap.

“While travel bans continued to be in place in many regions across the globe, relatively few existed in the Caribbean, Central and South America,” he said. “Collectively, these markets made up the bulk of international visitation.”