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CDC says people can safely travel again, tourism industry to benefit

by editor

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – The CDC updated its guidance to say fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting tested for COVID-19 or going into quarantine afterward.

“I’m definitely going to do something this summer. Not exactly sure about airlines yet. I have been vaccinated, but if I really want to go on a trip I’ll go on a trip,” said Jamie Devall

For international travel, fully vaccinated people don’t need a COVID test prior to travel unless it is required by the destination. They also won’t need to self-quarantine after returning to the United States.

Officials from Visit Baton Rouge said this could have a dramatic impact on tourism.

“The corporate travel will certainly be affected because so many organizations, so many corporations, have limited travel or even eliminated travel,” said Paul Arrigo, CDME, President & CEO of Visit Baton Rouge.

Arrigo said Baton Rouge has done well on the weekends during this COVID period when it comes with leisure travel and amateur sporting events, but the city has struggled tremendously during the week without the conferences and conventions that are typically bigtime money makers.”When you look at a person that either just stops for a day visit in Baton Rouge there’s a certain number of expenditures, and even more so for people who spend the night. The corporate traveler that spends maybe one, two or even three nights, the meetings, the conferences, it’s an impact,” said Arrigo.As more restrictions begin to relax, tourism experts believe we’ll see a lot more activity over the next few months.”Obviously this should open some things up and we’ll look forward to some positive results,” said Arrigo.

Even with the new guidelines, the CDC says you should stick close to home if at all possible because nationally we are still seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases. Health officials say if you are going to go somewhere, they ask that you wear a mask and socially distance.

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