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October 31, 2005
Contact: Teresa Mitchell, Seaway Trail, Inc., 315-646-1000
Seaway Trail, Inc. Urges Initiative to Facilitate Smooth Cross-Border Travel
The Great Lakes Seaway Trail scenic byway runs along 518 miles of the U.S.-Canada border. Representatives of Seaway Trail, Inc., the not-for-profit organization promoting travel, tourism and related economic development, are concerned about how the proposed passport-required Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will affect the economy of the 11-county travel region.
The scenic driving and boating route is open to Canadian travelers via seven international bridges, two international ferry services and miles of open water across the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania. The federally designated National Scenic Byway status that the New York portion of the route has enjoyed since 1996 has recently been extended to Seaway Trail Pennsylvania. A popular destination that includes Niagara Falls and the 1000 Islands, the Seaway Trail is within easy reach of Canadians living in and near Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, and Niagara Falls, Ontario.
“We strongly encourage our legislative leaders to develop a program that will be a cost-effective means of balancing homeland security with smooth cross-border travel for coastal residents and frequent travelers,” says Teresa Mitchell, Seaway Trail, Inc. Executive Director. “Legislation that discourages travel by making it costly and onerous will have a direct and negative effect on the tourism and recreation-based sectors that are essential contributors to our regional economy.”
“The Seaway Trail shoreline is lined with restaurants, hotels, marinas, and attractions that have enjoyed international visitation and the revenues that cross-border travel has generated for decades. Customers arrive at these businesses with an expectation of being able to easily visit Canada as part of their vacation,” says Seaway Trail, Inc. Board Member Gary De Young, director of tourism for the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council. “On the incoming side, the land border crossings of the Seaway Trail region generate more passenger arrivals than all incoming international air travel to the U.S.”
DeYoung adds, “We are opposed to the passport requirement that fails to recognize the unique social and economic structure of border communities and thus would be a huge impediment to the casual cross-border activity that regularly occurs along the Seaway Trail.“
At the mid-point of the Seaway Trail and Lake Ontario, Rochester welcomes more than 50,000 Canadian visitors annually. Greater Rochester Visitors Association Vice-President and Seaway Trail, Inc. board member Greg Marshall says that number is expected to rise significantly with a more favorable exchange rate and the daily ferry service from Toronto.
“The development of cross-lake travel aboard the multi-million dollar Toronto-to-Rochester fast ferry speaks to the tremendous potential of the Seaway Trail region to draw increasing numbers of visitors from Canada,” Marshall says, “but government requirements will need to facilitate ease of travel. For the people who visit here frequently, the concept of needing to purchase a passport is distasteful to them after generations of free passage and the cost represents a reason not to visit. We need to balance homeland security with good, common business sense.”
David G. White of New York Sea Grant’s Great Lakes Program, Oswego, NY, has worked with Seaway Trail, Inc. and the U.S. and Canadian governments to inform travelers about cross-border travel requirements for identification, purchasing, Customs clearance, and boating regulations.
“Since 2002, New York Sea Grant has worked closely with representatives of Seaway Trail and the two countries’ government to provide travelers with the most up-to-date cross-border travel tips,” White says. “Our primary clientele – anglers, boat cruisers, sailboaters and other members of the traveling public — need to be made aware of changes that impact their recreational travel and we appreciate the government officials’ understanding of how important it is to not only share information with the traveling public, but to facilitate that travel.”
Mitchell says Seaway Trail, Inc. expects legislators to develop travel regulations that “will provide for continued visitation to the region by our Canadian neighbors by both car and by boat.”
The Stats on Canada-Seaway Trail Travel
DeYoung cites a report in The Daily, a publication by Statistics Canada, that shows New York State to be the most popular overnight destination for Canadians. The report says 2.3 million Canadians journeyed to New York in 2004, a 12.6% gain over the previous year, and they spent more than $600 million in the state, an increase of 23.5% from 2003.
“A 2004 Profile of Overseas Travelers to the U.S. – Inbound shows incoming automobile passenger arrivals on the New York-Canadian land border exceeds the total number of international air travelers to the entire U.S.,” DeYoung points out. “The number of automobile passenger arrivals at the 1000 Islands Bridge is roughly similar to the total number of Germans arriving by air at all US destinations, while the incoming auto passenger arrivals at the Buffalo-Niagara international bridge crossings are more than twice the number of all Asians arriving by air in the U.S.”
A report prepared by Davidson-Peterson Associates for the Northern New York Travel and Tourism Research Center shows that Canadians accounted for 12 percent of all campground visits in 2003 along the Seaway Trail from Oswego to Massena.
According to US Bureau of Transportation statistics, the seven Seaway Trail land crossings accounted for nearly 82% of all auto passengers arriving via the US-Canadian border and more than 86% of all incoming passengers arriving by bus in 2003.
A 2004 Bureau of Transportation Statistics report shows the Buffalo-Niagara Falls international bridge entries to the Seaway Trail as having the highest number of personal vehicle and personal vehicle passenger U.S.-Canadian Border Land-Passenger Gateway entries, the highest number of bus and bus passenger and pedestrian U.S.-Canadian Border Land-Passenger Gateway entries, and the third highest number of train passenger U.S.-Canadian Border Land-Passenger Gateway arrivals that year.
For details on the proposed cross-border travel legislation, go online to
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html; for more information on the Seaway Trail, visit
www.seawaytrail.com.
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