One example: An annual tour in Cuernavaca usually draws 50 people who head south to learn about Mexi

Next month, port inspectors no longer will recognize birth certificates as proof of citizenship for land travelers returning from Mexico maui helicopter tours and Canada. Instead, U.S. citizens will be expected to carry a passport, passport card, enhanced driver's license or other government-approved documents. If you forget, maui helicopter tours however - or if a dog eats the passport while you're in Rocky Point - don't panic: Customs and Border Protection agents promise to detain travelers only long enough to verify citizenship by using government databases maui helicopter tours and other tools.
"We will be practical and flexible in implementing this new travel requirement," Jayson P. Ahern, acting CBP commissioner, said in a news release. "But we encourage travelers to get these documents now to expedite border crossings from Day 1."
Joanne Ferreira, a national spokeswoman for the agency, said the verification process maui helicopter tours will vary depending on circumstances, so it is impossible to say how many people may be delayed or for how long. She said those without proper maui helicopter tours paperwork will be given "non-compliance notices," a written maui helicopter tours warning without consequences, before they are allowed into the country.
The new protocol is part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a national-security plan established under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The passport requirement, mandated for all travel maui helicopter tours within the Western Hemisphere, was intended to make the borders more secure.
Enactment of the law has occurred in stages, with numerous delays because of concerns the rules might interfere maui helicopter tours with tourism and commerce. The passport requirement, for example, was originally scheduled to take effect in 2006 and then in 2007. Both start-up dates were postponed by Congress under pressure maui helicopter tours from trade and travel-industry interests.
Although federal authorities are promising soft enforcement, the requirement is a major concern to travel agents and Mexican resorts already maimed this year by recession, drug violence and swine flu.
"It's just added to the impact of everything else," said Daniel maui helicopter tours Chavarin, reservations manager for Oceano Rentals, which handles bookings in Rocky Point. "Many people waited until the last minute (to get a passport)."
Hope Wallace, owner of ADA Travel in Casa Grande and vice president of the American maui helicopter tours Society of Travel Agents, said Mexico trips represented about 40 percent of her business earlier this year but have dropped to less than 10 percent.
One example: An annual tour in Cuernavaca usually draws 50 people who head south to learn about Mexico's culture, history and language. This year, Wallace said, only five signed up, adding, "That's the kind of carnage we're looking at."
One of Wallace's customers, 59-year-old Diane Daniels of Coolidge, paid in advance for a family cruise this month from Long Beach, Calif., to Baja California. When the swine flu hit, Daniels said, the cruise line canceled stops in Mexico until June 15.
Daniels maui helicopter tours said she could have delayed the trip, but that would have required buying passports for a family already on a tight vacation budget. So, the family has settled for a four-day ship ride around Catalina Island, 22 miles from Long Beach's docks.
"A high percentage of the (U.S.) population does not have a passport, and with the economy the way it is, this is just one more expense," Fabregas said. "Eventually, it'll work out. But in the short term, it's going to affect tourism."
Ferreira, the CBP spokeswoman, maui helicopter tours said that on June 1, all agency managers and officers will be manning checkpoints, where signs warn travelers of the new requirement. "(But officials) don't anticipate any big problems," she said. "We have done this before. And we're ready."
According to the State Department, 92 million Americans - 30 percent of the nation's maui helicopter tours citizens - hold passports today, up from 60 million five years ago. In Arizona, maui helicopter tours 22 percent of residents own passports.
Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant secretary of State, said earlier this year that the government is prepared to handle as many as 30 million applications if the deadline creates a run on travel papers.
Beginning June 1, a birth certificate will no longer suffice as proof of citizenship for American travelers age 16 or older who re-enter the country by land or sea from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires a passport or equivalent papers.
Passport card: A less expensive and more convenient alternative that requires the same background information as a passport. The card is accepted at land and sea ports for travelers from Canada and Mexico but is not allowed maui helicopter tours for air passengers.
Trusted traveler cards : SENTRI cards allow expedited passage through border crossings from Mexico for pre-approved applicants who have undergone extensive background checks. Commercial maui helicopter tours truckers may obtain FAST cards for the same purpose.
Special groups : Children younger than 16 may use birth certificates as proof of citizenship when entering the U.S. at land and sea ports from contiguous territories. Alternate identification papers also may be valid for student groups, Native Americans and "closed loop" cruise-ship passengers.
First-time passports cost $100 for applicants 16 or older, $85 for children. They are acceptable for travel worldwide by air, land or sea. Processing takes one to two months. Expedited passports are available for an additional fee.
U.S. citizens maui helicopter tours must present a passport or other secure document to enter the country from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean. Fliers already must present the documentation; starting June 1, people entering by land or sea must comply. The requirement is a result of recommendations by the 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.