Vermonters involved in the travel industry say they’re relieved that the federal government has eased some of the regulations requiring use of passports, at least for now.

The temporary relief came as waiting times for passports grew longer and longer and many Vermonters connected to the travel industry were reaching their breaking point.

The changes allow travelers to go to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda with proof of a passport application and a government-issued ID instead of an actual passport. The rule will only be relaxed until Sept. 30.

The number of passport applications has grown 33 percent over last year, largely because passports will be required for flights to many foreign countries starting in January as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

Travelers and travel agents said the requirement was causing headaches.

Ted Child, owner of Child Travel Services in Burlington, called the backlog “not much fun,” “a mess” and “a pain in the neck.” He said even those who paid for faster passport processing were waiting longer.

“It’s never been like this before,” Child said. “The sheer volume of people that need to get passports is staggering. It’s a significant problem at this point.”

Cathie Merrihew, a travel agent with Accent Travel in South Burlington, praised the relaxation and said the State Department “should have done it in the first place.” Because the change is only temporary, she is giving her clients the same advice: apply early.

“It’s going to confuse the heck out of the average traveler,” Merrihew said. “The bottom line here is that if you don’t have a passport and you’re planning on traveling, you better go get one.”

Cathy Newton-Quinn, an agent with Child Travel, said though the relaxed restrictions are convenient in the short term, they might be counterproductive.

“That sends kind of a mixed message,” she said. “You don’t want people to get complacent and have them think that (the government) is going to keep prolonging it or delaying it.”

Newton-Quinn said that once the logistics are worked out, requiring a passport for all overseas travel will be much more efficient.

Routine service nowadays can take 12 weeks, up from 10 earlier this year, the State Department said. Faster service, which costs $60 per application, can take three weeks or even longer.

David Carle, a spokesman for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Wednesday that 20 to 30 people called the senator about passport delays in the previous week and a half. He said Leahy’s staff deals with Vermonters with “emergency situations.”

Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 4:20 am and is filed under Real Estate, Travel. Tags: Bermuda Canada Caribbean federal government Mexico Newton overseas travel sports Travel travel agents travel industry travel services Vermont . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.