US opens doors to international visitors as pandemic travel ban ends

The US lifted restrictions Monday on travel from a long list of countries including Mexico, Canada and most of Europe, allowing tourists to make long-delayed trips and family members to reconnect with loved ones after more than a year and a half apart because of the pandemic.
 

“I'm going to jump into his arms, kiss him, touch him,” Gaye Camara said of the husband in New York she has not seen since before Covid-19 brought the fly-here-there-and-everywhere world to a halt.
 

“Just talking about it makes me emotional,” Camara, 40, said as she wheeled her luggage through Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, which could almost be mistaken for its pre-pandemic self, busy with humming crowds, albeit in face masks.
 

The rules that go into effect Monday allow air travel from a series of countries from which it has been restricted since the early days of the pandemic — as long as the traveller has proof of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test. Those crossing a land border from Mexico or Canada will require proof of vaccination but no test.
 

US citizens and permanent residents were always allowed to enter the US, but the travel bans grounded tourists, thwarted business travellers and often separated families.
 

Airlines are now preparing for a surge in travel. Data from travel and analytics firm Cirium showed airlines are increasing flights between the UK and the US by 21 per cent this month over last month.
 

When Camara last saw Mamadou, her husband, in January 2020, they had no way of knowing that they'd have to wait 21 months before holding each other again. She lives in France's Alsace region, where she works as a secretary. He is based in New York.
 

“It was very hard at the beginning. I cried nearly every night,” she said. “I got through it thanks to him. He knows how to talk to me, to calm me.” Video calls, text messages, phone conversations kept them connected — but couldn't fill the void of separation.