The Government Shutdown's Effect On Travel

I know many people may be discussing this and you may be tired of hearing it, but sorry I am still going to mention it. Today I am going to talk about how the government shutdown will affect tourism. If this shutdown takes place for a decent amount of time, it can affect the places you wish to visit. The national monuments and parks will all be closed, such as the Statue of Liberty and Yosemite National Park. Not only does this affect tourists, but it also affects tour groups like schools and weddings who have planned their trips well in advance without the idea of a government shutdown in mind.

One of the major downers of the government shutdown on travelers who are travelling by planes is excess delays and cancellations. Because the government provides for air traffic control, the shutdown causes less people to be put to work in these positions. Therefore, larger delays and more cancellations of planes will occur because of the decrease in the amount of workers who basically provide an extra set of eyes for the air. If someone is planning on going on a trip soon and hasn’t gotten their passport yet, they may be out of luck as well. Though the Department of State says it will continue to work on issuing passports and visas of foreign applicants, once again there will be delays, not only for the foreign applicants, but people living here in the US as well. Luckily transportation systems like the Amtrak will still be running, though that doesn’t help the foreign travelers much. Also, on the bright side, the US Customs and Border Protection will still be working. This means if you leave the country, you can still get back in. For example, a short trip to Canada is allowed.

 

Though there may be some effect on travel due to the government shutdown, like delay in flights, passports, and the closing of national museums, parks, and zoos, it is most likely that it won’t affect us too much. Travel will still be able to go on, with minor issues. Hopefully our government can come to a compromise and fix the issues they have amongst themselves. This way workers of the government can go back to work, children can go on awesome field trips to national sites, weddings can take place in the parks they had booked for, and tourists can go on vacation.

All this information can be found here.