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 Travel & Outdoors | July 2006 
Travel Companies Pay for Passports
 Jayne Clark - USA TODAY
| | Travel providers and tourism officials are worried new U.S. passport restrictions may cut into their business. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) |
Apple Vacations is the latest tour operator offering to pick up the cost of a passport for Caribbean and Mexico-bound U.S. travelers in need of the document.
The reason: Beginning Dec. 31, all U.S. citizens traveling by air or sea will need a passport to travel to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Mexico and Canada. (Passports will be required for land border crossings starting Dec. 31, 2007.) The new rules are part of an initiative to tighten border security. But because fewer than 23% of Americans have a passport, tourism officials in those regions are worried that the law will reduce visitation.
Apple's deal knocks $100 off the price of some seven-night 2007 vacation packages booked by Oct. 31. The passport fee for those 16 and older is $97.
SuperClubs' "Passport Included" incentive, good for bookings that are made by July 31, deducts the cost of a new or renewed passport for four-night-minimum vacations in 2007. The company operates 10 all-inclusive resorts in five Caribbean countries under the Grand Lido, Breezes and Hedonism brands.
And the Westin and Sheraton Grand Bahama resorts at Our Lucaya will offer a $100 resort credit from Sept. 5 to Oct. 15, 2007, for guests whose passports were issued between August and December.
Though seven Caribbean islands now require passports for entry, others, plus Mexico and Canada, necessitate only a driver's license or birth certificate.
If the new rules go into effect as scheduled — and travel officials from affected areas are waging a lobbying effort against them — applicants can expect an end-of-the-year crunch at passport offices.
For information on how to apply: travel.state.gov/passport. |
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