Passport regulation complicates already low American travel to Canada

From CanadaEast.com: David Tetrault has noticed a 50 per cent drop in business at his bed and breakfast in Niagara Falls, Ont., this year and he estimates a chunk of that is the result of new passport regulations at the Canada-U.S. border. “Our business is probably 30 per cent less just because of the passport…

Read More

Natives exempt from passport rule

From the Niagara Falls Review: Welcome to the United States. No passport required. Scores of native North Americans poured across into Canada from the U.S., then returned home without a passport Saturday, despite new American rules requiring most people to carry a passport or some other approved government document to enter the United States. Natives…

Read More

Americans staying home

From the Niagara Falls Review: The trips arranged by Lezlie Harper Wells are a hit with U.S. African Americans. Since 2004, she’s helped co-ordinate 600 American group sojourns to explore Niagara’s rich black history and its Underground Railroad that helped free U.S. slaves. However, new passport rules at the U.S. border and a sick economy…

Read More

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Writer defends U.S. side of falls

From The Journal-Register (in Medina, NY): A Pennsylvania writer took pains in a recent travel story to defend the American side of Niagara Falls, widely considered inferior to its Canadian counterpart. Jack Markowitz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in a story discussing the Cataract City, said that even with increased international border security, there is no…

Read More

‘Flexible’ U.S. guards ease border flow

From the Toronto Star: As cars and trucks breezed across the Peace Bridge to Buffalo this morning, it was shaping up to be a typical Monday at the U.S.-Canadian border despite new documentation requirements coming into effect today. Under the new requirements, Canadians will still be allowed across the U.S. border without a passport or…

Read More

Passport required

From the Niagara Falls Review: Canadians travelling to the U. S. by car need to add one more thing to their checklist starting today as new rules requiring passports kick in. Showing up at a crossing with your birth certificate or citizenship card and photo ID won’t guarantee entry anymore. The United States now requires…

Read More

‘Extremely unsettling time’ for wary tourism operators

From the Niagara Falls Review: Things are going well for the Niagara Parks Commission. The first half of 2009, including two long weekends, brought better than expected crowds around the historic park area. “It has been a good kickoff to the year,” said general manager John Kernahan. “But I’m extremely fearful of what’s coming.” After…

Read More

Niagara Falls tourism industry braces for impact of new passport rules

From Canoe.ca Travel: Just beneath the cheery din of slot-machine sirens, the sound of blissed-out tourist traffic and the crash of Niagara Falls, an undercurrent of anxiety is flowing among merchants and attraction operators as they brace for what some fear could be a summer of discontent. As of June 1, those who make their…

Read More