A Year Later and the Land Border is NOW Open for Canadian Snowbirds RV Lifestyle Canadians eagerly awaiting the green flag to start their exodus across the U.S./Canadian border need not wait any longer. As with Robert Frost’s two paths diverging in the woods, the COVID pandemic hit a fork in the road for Canadian snowbirds. All of the leaves are changing, the temperature is falling and the sky is gray… I’m just mentally preparing for winter. I love the crispness in the air… perhaps because it triggers a snowbird response which tells me that it’s time to start packing the RV for travel to warmer climes. Georgia O’Keefe said, “I have done nothing all summer but wait for myself to be myself again” and, while that’s not really the whole story of what I did this summer (I’m guessing that Georgia O’Keefe wasn’t dealing with back-to-back years of a pandemic), it’s pretty close! As I write this winter column in late October, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently announced that fully vaccinated Canadian travellers will be permitted to enter the United States via the land border for non-essential purposes effective November 8, 2021. When entering the United States for tourism purposes, travellers will be required to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19, such as their provincial vaccine receipt or QR code. It has been confirmed by the Biden Administration that international visitors who received a full course of any WHOapproved vaccine, such as Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca, will be recognized as fully vaccinated. Further, the U.S. government will also recognize travellers who received mixed doses of anyWHO-approved vaccines as fully inoculated against COVID-19. Canadians entering the United States at a land crossing will not be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test. However, all air passengers arriving in the U.S. from a foreign country are required to get tested for COVID-19 with a viral test no more than three days before their flight departs, andmust present the negative result or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 to the airline before boarding the flight. After a winter spent away from sunnier climates, many fully vaccinated snowbirds are set to make the trip south this year. But, with the Delta variant surging in different parts of North America, some snowbirds are weighing their options as to the best way forward…especially with the U.S. land border reopening to Canadians on November 8. This eagerness to travel to warmer climates in the winter is evident, but there’s an element of the snowbird population that’s taking a “wait-and-see” approach, as well as some who are planning actively for a more uncertain future. Arizona and Florida are the ultimate destinations for Canadian snowbirds. Arizona has become home tomany snowbirds during the winter season. Canadians have contributed to Arizona’s economic growth with billions of dollars from tourism. In 2020, there was a significant decrease fromone million snowbirds to 200,000. Now that U.S. borders will open up to Canada in November, Arizona is hoping to see that rise again. “We’re hoping and praying that they come back, but it’s not a given. So, we keep telling everyone in Arizona that I hope you’re marketing to the Canadian tourists and snowbirds, because they have choices,” said Glenn Williamson − the CEO and founder of Canada Arizona Business Council. 22 | www.snowbirds.org
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