The US Travel Association (USTA), alongside 26 organizations from the tourism and aviation side, including the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the US Tour Operators Association, has urged the Biden administration to implement “a risk-based, data-driven roadmap” to lift all remaining international entry bans into the US, reports Skift. Citing recent public health progress, including rapidly advancing US vaccinations and drops in case numbers and hospitalizations, US travel groups requested a full tourism reopening for inbound international visitors by July 4. This would allow visitors from Brazil, China, Europe’s Schengen area, Iran, Ireland, South Africa and the UK to enter the US either with COVID-19 test results or vaccination. According to the USTA, international travel to the US dropped by 81 percent in 2020, amounting to a $146 billion loss for the US economy, plus 1.1 million jobs that could be lost if travel isn’t fully reopened. By allowing inbound travel by July 4, 2021, the tourism group said to the White House that the US would be looking at a $30 billion recovery, as well as 225,000 jobs restored. Based on this data, the travel groups support exempting vaccinated travelers from testing requirements, doing away with quarantines for tested travelers — including an update to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines to reflect this change — and developing “uniform Federal principles for COVID-19 health credentials” to verify COVID-19 test results and vaccinations.

The Biden administration is considering the middle of May to relax restrictions on travel across the borders with Mexico and Canada as well as on inbound international travel from Brazil, Europe, and the UK, reports CNBC. While there has not been a policy memo or formal codification of that time frame, the discussion has focused on trying to limit the spread of variants domestically as localities make their own decisions on how quickly to reopen. In the meantime, officials have suggested President Joe Biden and his COVID task force need more time to feel comfortable with reopening borders and increasing the level of air traffic from overseas.

Delta Air Lines has announced that it will introduce nine brand-new routes and add flights to more than 20 top leisure destinations this summer as it prepares for an anticipated recovery in leisure travel. The carrier is boosting service to many major national parks in the West, including four routes to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) from hubs in Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), and Seattle (SEA). The carrier also is adding flights to Glacier, Grand Teton and Yosemite national parks. On the East Coast, Delta is adding new service from Boston (BOS) to Hilton Head (HHH) and Myrtle Beach (MYR), both of which will operate on the weekends beginning May 8. Other East Coast additions include flights to Wilmington, North Carolina (ILM), Norfolk, Virginia (ORF), Savannah, Georgia (SAV), and Asheville, North Carolina (AVL). Additionally, the carrier is restarting travel to the Caribbean, including routes to Grand Cayman (GCM) and St. Kitts (SKB) from both Atlanta and JFK beginning June 5. It’ll also serve Bonaire (BON) and Roatan Island (RTB) with twice-weekly flights from Atlanta. The announcement of these new summer routes follows Delta's announcement last week of five new routes to Alaska the summer.

Amtrak has announced its new Northeast Getaway Sale, allowing travelers to buy discounted tickets in the northeast until March 26, 2021. The sale is valid for travel from March 30 to September 30, 2021, and is valid for trains operating on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) from Baltimore, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Virginia, Washington, DC, and other intermediate cities. Travelers can ride on Acela in Business for as low as $39 one way, or in Coach for as low as $19 one way on trains such as the Northeast Regional, Vermonter, Silver Star, Crescent, and more. Travelers will be able to bring on two carry-on bags and two personal items, as well as have access to free Wi-Fi. Travelers can also bring small pets with them on many trains.

Six of the ten primary US airlines are slated to resume at least some change fees for flights booked on April 1 and later, with Delta resuming the charges for flights booked beginning March 31, reports Travel Weekly. The fees will apply to basic economy bookings on American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, and United. In addition, Frontier and Spirit will reimplement change fees on most bookings. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, US carriers have suspended change fees for all booking classes, removing any direct penalty for travelers who alter their plans due to COVID-19 symptoms or a case of the virus. In addition, full-service carriers decided during the pandemic to do away with change fees long-term, except on basic economy bookings. Not all carriers have said how much the new change fees will be. Prior to the pandemic, American, Delta, Hawaiian, and United charged $200 for an itinerary change, in addition to any price differential.