Research on Alternative Documentation for Land and Sea Travel

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Executive Summary

The following summary presents the findings from qualitative and quantitativeresearch with Canadians. The United States' Western Hemisphere TravelInitiative (WHTI) requires all travellers entering the U.S. to present valid secure documentation upon entry. The first phase was rolled out in January 2007 and applied to air travellers. All those entering the U.S. by air arecurrently required to show a valid passport or other appropriate secure document. The document requirements when entering the U.S. by land or sea have yet to be finalized. As such, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Passport Canada (PPTC) were interested in understanding Canadians interest and willingness to pay for alternative travel documents that might be valid under the WHTI.

Qualitative and quantitative research was conducted to meet these research objectives. To begin, four focus groups were conducted with Canadians in Windsor (August 13, 2007) and Montreal (August 21, 2007). The purpose of the qualitative sessions was to explore the concepts in detail and to help inform the design of the quantitative instrument. Subsequently, a telephone survey was conducted with 904 Canadians between August 23 and September 3, 2007. A sample of this size can be expected to be accurate to the larger population to within plus or minus 3.3 percent, at the 95 percent confidence level. Margins of error will be larger for subsamples.

Outlined below are the key findings from the research.

1. Canadians recognize the importance of the passport as a travel document. Just over half of Canadians currently hold a valid passport and one in three are planning to obtain one. Passport holders are more likely to have travelled to the U.S. and abroad, and are more likely to be planning a trip in the next year or two.
2. There is a high degree of awareness of the upcoming changes to the accepted identification for entering the U.S. Seven in ten claim to know about these changes. However, the focus groups reveal that few are aware that these changes are part of the WHTI. While a large majority of Canadians are aware of these changes, a sizeable minority still plan on using a driver's licence or birth certificate as identification if they were entering the U.S. tomorrow.
3. The Enhanced Driver's Licence was the most preferred among the alternative documents tested. The qualitative research indicates that the primary benefit of this document is that most already carry one in their wallet, and it lends itself well to spontaneous travel across the border. However, interest does decrease somewhat once price is introduced.
   
   The Passport Card as tested in the focus groups yielded little interest. Most considered it a duplication of documentation and could not extract any benefit from such a document.
4. There is limited awareness of the NEXUS Card. Indeed, few have heard about it and only one percent surveyed claimed to hold a NEXUS Card.
5. The passport will still be the most commonly used travel document even with the introduction of alternative travel documents. Both the telephone survey and focus groups reveal that there is a sense of attachment with the Canadian passport. The focus group discussions showed that participants believe PPTC has adequately dealt with an increased demand for passports. They also are concerned with potential changes to the acceptability of alternative documents, as well as the duplication of efforts between various levels of government.
6. Canadians have limited confidence in the RFID technology and its benefits for passport usage. Few linked it to expediting border crossings. Focus group participants immediately questioned the security of the information as well as who was able to access this information. In the absence of a clear, direct benefit, they are resistant to accept this technology for this purpose.