Border Reopening A ‘Big Relief’ Says Detroit Regional Chamber VP
October 15, 2021Oct. 14, 2021
Rusty Thomson
The Detroit Regional Chamber is ready to welcome Canadians back once the border reopens to non-essential travel.
The U.S. land border is set to reopen to fully vaccinated Canadians in early November, although a firm start date has not been released.
Glenn Stevens, vice president of the Detroit Regional Chamber, says it’s a big relief.
He says this is about friends and family interactions, tourism and commerce, interactions businesses can have in person and people who have property in Michigan. He describes it as a “big pressure relief valve on all four of those things.”
Stevens says Michigan has a $26-billion annual tourism business but so many businesses have not been able to depend on that revenue.
“We have over a million visitors per year who come over not only on a daily basis, but on a tourism trip standpoint.”
He says it comes at a good time as the Christmas shopping season is approaching.
“We can fell that all the way from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula. There’s 19 crossings between Ontario and Michigan and that’s a pretty substantial percentage of the U.S. border crossings with Canada, which is Think is 119. So this is a really good time for this to be happening.”
Stevens says the reopening is about four things, but most importantly, it’s about friends and family interactions.
“It’s tourism and commerce, third it’s the interactions businesses can have in person and there’s also property owners on both sides that visit different places, to access their property or check on their property. It’ got a big pressure relief valve on all four of those things now.”
Fully vaccinated Americans have been allowed back into Canada since August, provided they can show proof of a recent negative COVID test.