BUFFALO (WBEN) - Not that it came as any sort of surprise, but the 'non-essential travel' border closure between the United States and Canada has been extended until April 21, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday morning.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not put a time frame on when he believes the border should reopen. Under current restrictions, tourists and cross-border visits remain prohibited.
Of course, Buffalo and Western New York depend on cross-border travel and tourism for economic reasons. According to Visit Buffalo Niagara President Patrick Kaler, anywhere between 35-45% of the region's visitation comes from Canada and the greater Toronto area.
"To have the border closed for a year now is pretty devastating to our overall economy," said Kaler. "We are watching that very closely - it's very important for us to get the border as quickly as possible."
John Percy serves as the president of Destination Niagara USA, and to describe the kind of economic impact Canadians have on Niagara County, he explained that they conducted a VisaView study, which monitors just the Visa credit card information on international travelers.
In 2019, Percy said Canadians spent $59 million in Niagara County just on goods and services, and this study doesn't even include Canadian purchases with other kinds of credit cards, debit cards, or cash.
"The tourism dollars spent here are of course on shopping - shopping is probably their number-one activity in Niagara County," said Percy. "It shows you what was missing for all or most of 2020, and that impacts our retailers here in the region, and those retailers survive off of a lot of Canadian shoppers, and that really puts a lot of those retailers into the black and not the red."
Percy also noted that it isn't just businesses that are impacted by the lack of tourism - the county, which counts on sales tax revenue, also sees a major hit.