Caribbean countries, including the Cayman Islands, have been spared a possible financial crisis with the second extension to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).
Congress has extended the deadline from 1 January 2008 to 1 June 2009 for travellers from the Western Hemisphere to have a passport or other secure travel documents to enter the US.
The Cayman Islands, which has tourism as one of its two major economic pillars, was facing the prospective of massive losses with 82 percent of its air arrivals coming from the US.
Regionally, the fear was that $2.6 billion in visitor earnings plus 188,000 in travel and tourism jobs could be lost as a result of the US enforcement on the use of specific travel documents.
Governments from the Carib-bean, including Cayman and other stakeholders, mounted several missions to Washington to get an extension to the WHTI and to save regional tourism from possible fallout.
Prior to the latest decision from the US Congress, Director of Tourism, Pilar Bush said the Cayman Islands would still educate US travellers on the importance of owning a passport.
"The extension of this deadline will benefit the Cayman Islands but it will not allow us to stop educating our US guests on the need for a passport as the requirement will come, it is just a matter of when," she said.
Minister of Tourism, Hon Charles Clifford, told the annual Tourism Conference here that the Islands was preparing for whatever the outcome of the WTHI.
Mr Clifford urged local stakeholders to join in the campaign to educate US travellers on the "must have" passport rules.
"I encourage you all to continue using your resources to educate past, current and potential guests on their need for a passport so that no one loses any business because a future US visitor didn't know they required a passport," he said.
The Caribbean, Mexico and Canada have received an 18-month reprieve after lobbying the US Congress to protect their tourism industries, which heavily rely on US visitors.
Travel and tourism bodies in the US have also been working with the US Government to get a fair balance in the WHTI between enhanced homeland security and facilitation of millions of legitimate travellers.
The US authorities developed the WHTI as part of extra security measures in the aftermath of terror attacks in the US, which left close to 3,000 people dead.
According to US authorities, "The goal is to strengthen border security and facilitate entry into the United States for US citizens and legitimate foreign visitors."
Jim Santini of the National Tour Association in the US hailed the news as great for tourism "A major crisis has been averted at our nation's land borders. The commonsense adoption of a June 1, 2009, deadline ensures that proper security procedures and technologies are in place so that legitimate travel and tourism remains unimpeded," he said.
The US and Canadian Chambers of Commerce have welcomed the US Congress decision to extend the deadline for implementation of new personal identification requirements for entering the US by land or sea.
Last weekend, the Business for Economic Security, Trade and Tourism (BESTT) coalition, which comprises the US and Canadian Chambers of Commerce along the American northern boarder, expressed gratitude to US lawmakers for the extension.
