US industry groups, lawmakers press White House to lift travel restrictions

A coalition of 24 industry organizations on Wednesday urged the White House to lift restrictions that bar much of the world from traveling to the United States but the Biden administration showed no signs of taking immediate action. The groups led by US Travel Association and representing airlines, casinos, hotels, airports, airplane manufacturers and others, urged the administration to ease entry restrictions by July 15 that were imposed last year during the pandemic,and to quickly lift entry restrictions on UK travelers. "We have the knowledge and the tools we need to restart international travel safely, and it is past time that we use them," US Travel CE Roger Dow said. Separately, 75 members of the US House of Representatives called on Biden to reopen the US border with Canada to non-essential travelers. The lawmakers in a letter cited projections that if the restrictions are not lifted, the United States could "lose 1.1 million jobs and an additional $175 billion by the end of this year." The CDC has raised concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19 in US government meetings, sources said. Industry and US officials told Reuters they do not expect the administration to lift restrictions soon. The CDC wants airlines to implement international passenger contact tracing as part of any lifting of restrictions, sources told Reuters.<br/>