Passports soon to become a must for international travel in 2007

Area residents who plan to travel internationally by air or sea during 2007 are being advised by local tourism offices to apply now for a passport if they don’t already possess a valid one.

That’s because on Dec. 31, federal law will require all individuals, regardless of national origin, to possess valid passports if traveling internationally by air or sea, including to and from destinations where drivers’ licenses and birth certificates had previously been sufficient. Those destinations include Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, Panama and the Caribbean. Passports will be required for all forms of international travel, including over land, beginning on Dec. 31, 2007.

For information on passport applications, visit the State Department’s Web site at http://www.travel.state.gov/ or contact Colorado Springs’s Carlson Wagonlit Travel at (719) 597-0004 or online at www.carlsontravel.com/travelleague.