Today, the Air Transport Association (ATA), which represents leading U.S. airlines, became the latest industry organization to remind travelers of the new and more restrictive travel document policies beginning Jan. 23, 2007, that will require all travelers to present a passport when entering or re-entering the United States.
These new travel document requirements, issued by the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of State as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), are the result of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which concluded that the Western Hemisphere Exemption, by which travelers could offer identification in lieu of a passport, was an unacceptable security risk.
On Monday, December 11, the Travel Industry Association (TIA), a national, non-profit organization for the travel industry, and the Travel Business Roundtable (TBR), a CEO-based organization representing all sectors of the travel and tourism industry, held a joint press conference announcing their new, user-friendly Get A Passport Now website to facilitate WHTI compliance. “Our objective,” says Roger Dow, President and CEO, TIA, “is to assist both the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security in their efforts to communicate what the new passport requirements are.”
Currently, a U.S. passport for adults costs $97 and is valid for 10 years. While Richard Webster, TIA’s Vice President, Government Affairs, admits that there has been some “grumbling,” he advises prospective international meetings attendees not to think about getting a passport as a single event:. “Think about it in the long term; you have to think about it as an investment in 10 years of freedom to travel.”