Updated at 1:14 p.m. and 3:24 p.m.
Vermont businesses are welcoming a reopening of the border with Canada to fully vaccinated travelers.
The United States plans to allow foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to cross its land borders starting in November, President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday.
“Cross-border travel creates significant economic activity in our border communities and benefits our broader economy,” U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a written statement announcing the policy change.
The development is likely to benefit Vermont’s economy, which relies in part on Canadian tourists, and it comes just in time for the approaching ski season.
“It has the potential to make a solid, positive impact,” said JJ Toland, a spokesperson for Jay Peak Resort, located a few miles south of the border with Quebec. “Canadian visitors account for 50% of Jay Peak’s winter business, so not having the border open last winter hurt.”
The United States land borders have been closed to nonessential travel since March 2020. Canada has allowed fully vaccinated Americans to cross the border since Aug. 9, but the U.S. has, until now, not been willing to reciprocate.
Vermont business groups welcomed the reopening.
“[W]e have been advocating for this change, since we have such close ties both economically and culturally and were confounded by the fact that the U.S. didn’t act when Canada opened their border to Americans, as well as the fact that air travel was allowed — yet communities all along the U.S. land border with Canada were being harmed,” said Catherine Davis, president of the Lake Champlain Chamber.
The Vermont Chamber of Commerce also welcomed the move.
“As our largest trading partner, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce welcomes the news and reopening of the border with Canada in early November,” said Chris Carrigan, vice president of the business organization. “The reopening will facilitate both tourism and commerce as we work to rebound from the pandemic and strengthen our cross-border, integrated supply chains, which unite us in commerce and prosperity.”
The new opening comes with additional restrictions for some travelers who have been allowed to cross the border for essential travel. Starting in January — those travelers, including truck drivers, health care workers and students — will be required to provide proof of vaccination.
U.S. officials did not immediately say when in November the border would reopen to nonessential travel — nor did it describe what the border crossing process would entail.
At Jay Peak, that gives Toland some pause.
“We’ll have a better idea of what to expect with regards to potential Canadian business once [the Department of Homeland Security] issues more guidance,” Toland said.
Toland said Jay Peak is concerned that if testing protocols are too burdensome or time-consuming, Canadian travelers could decide to stay in Canada.
The Department of Homeland Security is not indicating that it will allow negative Covid-19 tests to substitute for full vaccination, but Toland points out that Canada does have testing guidelines in place for essential travel by unvaccinated people.
Gov. Phil Scott hailed the news Wednesday in a written statement, calling it “a significant step forward on the path from pandemic to endemic management of Covid-19 and will mean a great deal to many Vermonters and our communities.”
“Vermont and Canada are not just neighbors; our communities are linked by family, friends, social and cultural connections, natural resources, commerce and more,” the governor said. “Reopening the land border will allow our communities to reunite, after being separated for nearly two years.”
Vermont’s congressional delegation, too, welcomed the reopening.
“We welcome and commend the Biden administration’s decision to safely reopen the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico,” Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch said in a joint statement. “Like so many communities along both borders, Vermont towns have close, longstanding ties with Canadian ones.”
