Tourism officials hoping for increase in cross-border travel

With cross-border travel seeing an easing of restrictions, tourism officials on both sides of the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie are hoping to see a return to normal in the near future. However, as of now, officials say cross-border and air travel numbers remain drastically below pre-pandemic levels.

Terry Bos, CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Airport, said passenger totals are still well below pre-pandemic levels, and he doesn't anticipate much of an increase over the March Break.

"I know there's no additional flights planned, so I would say it's not going to be much more than what we're seeing right now," said Bos. "Obviously if there was a huge demand, they would have added a couple extra flights, and we haven't seen that. So, I'm not anticipating anything Earth-shattering when it comes to Spring travel this year, unfortunately."

Bos adds, with restrictions gradually coming down, he's expecting a busier summer than last.

Meantime, Linda Hoath of the Visitors Bureau in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, said businesses there are eager for the return of Canadian shoppers. She said the pandemic has had a significant impact on them.

"I've heard the local businesses downtown (saying) how much the Canadian traffic is to them," she said. "But we are getting closer. We are seeing more Ontario plates."

On the Canadian side, Sault Ste. Marie's Tourism Manager Travis Anderson, said they are noticing some signs of an eventual return to normal with a slight increase in American tourists recently.

"We're noticing more U-S visitation, definitely at our attractions," said Anderson. "We're starting to see a bit of an uptick and we're certainly hoping with the rollback, the slight rollback on testing and also the new direction with respect to masking, we'll start to see more visitation."