CARIBBEAN TOURISM officials are pushing for an additional extension to the implementation date of the United States Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

The WHTI, which is due to take
effect on January 1, 2007, will make it mandatory for all Americans returning to the United States from the Caribbean and other countries in the Western Hemisphere to have a passport to enter the country.

Regional tourism officials – working through the Caribbean Community Council for Foreign and Community Relations and Caribbean ambassadors in Washington, D.C. – successfully argued against the original implementation date of January 1, 2006, saying it put the region at a disadvantage since Americans returning from Mexico and Canada by air would not need a passport before January 1, 2007. Those returning from the two United States border countries by land have been given an additional year, and will require a passport by January 1, 2008.

But Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), said that the region would still be at a disadvantage if the passport law were enforced starting January 1, 2007.

He said regional tourism officials have been meeting with senior US officials in the Caribbean who have agreed to press the Caribbean's case in Washington, D.C.

"The reason for a further postponement must be that the pick-up of new passports by US citizens has been nowhere near the numbers that we would like to see," he told journalists at Caribbean Week 2006, held in New York.

The CTO Secretary-General said the October date by which the United States government intended to begin its educational campaign was too late for the Caribbean.

While pushing for a postponement of the implementation date, the Caribbean is undertaking its own educational campaign, advising Americans of the importance of getting a passport and how to go about getting one.

As part of the campaign, the CTO was able to get the assistance of The New York Times, which is running a series of advertisements at its own expense. CTO also secured the cooperation of the United States Postal Service, which facilitated passport applications during Caribbean Week, and will be present at other such CTO publicevents across the United States.