The Trudeau government says Canadians shouldn’t expect open borders anytime soon. Also, Air Canada is teaming up with the Cleveland Clinic, a look at the best hotels in Canada as voted by Travel + Leisure, and new social distancing rules for cruise ships. My Future of Travel blog for July 9.
Canada’s Borders Staying Shut For Now
BNN Bloomberg has this report on the Canadian border situation:
Finance Minister Bill Morneau says he doesn’t expect Canada to lift travel restrictions with the U.S. set in place to curtail the spread of COVID-19, and opening the border would create “additional risk” for Canadians.
Morneau’s comments on whether the U.S.-Canada border should be re-opened for non-essential travel come about a month after Air Canada chief executive officer Calin Rovinescu said the restrictions are stifling both the airline sector and the country’s economy.
This is me, not BNN:
Rovinescu and others in the travel and tourism industry have suggested Canada could perhaps open its doors to “safe countries,” rather than flinging them open to everyone.
The U.S. and Canada closed their border for non-essential travel on March 21, shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, BNN stated. The border is closed until at least July 21, but some observers think the ban on all non-essential travel between the two countries could extend through the year, especially if the US can’t get its COVID act together.
“I hear the challenges, we understand them, but what we won’t be doing is changing our approach, which we think will protect our health, in any way that’s inappropriate,” Morneau told BNN Bloomberg in an interview Wednesday shortly after delivering the government’s fiscal update that projects a $343.2 billion deficit in 2020-21.
“Clearly, we have a real challenge south of the border right now and we don’t believe that changing the travel restrictions in a way that creates additional risk will be prudent at this time,” Morneau said.
It’s only a matter of days until the July 21 US border closure is extended.
Travel + Leisure Awards: Fairmont Hotels Clean Up in Canada
Check out the view from the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta. JIM BYERS PHOTO
I love a good list on a Thursday morning, and the folks at Travel + Leisure have posted a few dozen of them on their Readers’ Choice awards site.
The awards, which were organized before the pandemic hit, are given out for everything from top hotels to best airlines and best destinations.
They had two categories for Canadian hotels this year: best city hotels and best resort hotels. Fairmont, which is part of the Accor family and has its headquarters in Toronto, came out with eight of the top 20 spots in those two combined categories. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a full 40%. And that’s impressive.
Here’s the Travel + Leisure list of best resort hotels in Canada (and just in time for summer road trips):
- Fogo Island Inn, Newfoundland (also third IN THE WORLD, which I mentioned yesterday on my blog)
- Manoir Hovey, Quebec
- The Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, B.C.
- The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, B.C.
- The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta
- The Fairmont Banff Springs, Alberta
- Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Whistler, B.C.
- The Lodge at Cabot Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
- The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta
- The Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, Quebec
I’ve been lucky enough to stay at all of them except Manoir Hovey and the Four Seasons Whistler. They’re all amazing, and well-deserving of the honour.
Here’s the Travel + Leisure list of best city hotels in Canada:
- The Loden, Vancouver
- Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Vancouver
- The Ritz-Carlton, Montreal
- Hotel Nelligan, Montreal
- Auberge Saint-Antoine, Quebec City
- The Drake, Toronto
- Wedgewood Hotel and Spa, Vancouver
- Ritz-Carlton, Toronto
- The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City
- (TIE) The Fairmont Royal York Toronto and the Fairmont Waterfront, Vancouver
T and L also came up with a very short list of top Canadian islands, with just three in all. They were Cape Breton, Vancouver and Prince Edward Island. Hard to argue with that. If there was a fourth I’d say Iles de la Madeleine, which is part of Quebec and is simply amazing. Fifth? Probably something in B.C., like Salt Spring Island. But I haven’t been so it’s hard to say. Here in Ontario I love Pelee Island, for sure.
Dining Out For Less In The UK
Gordon Ramsay at his new Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant in Las Vegas. PHOTO COURTESY CAESARS PALACE
I mentioned in earlier posts about how some governments (Italy and Japan) were willing to help tourists visit their country by paying some of their costs. Now comes something a little different.
According to the Globe and Mail’s Paul Waldie, the UK government is now offering to pay half of the cost of a restaurant meal. Throughout the month of August, pubs, cafes and restaurants can offer a 50% discount on all food and non-alcoholic (darn) drinks. The government will then pay the remainder, up to a maximum of 10 British pounds, about $17, per person.
You won’t be able to get a sizzling steak at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, but you could probably manage fish and chips and a Coke.
The program is called “eat out to help out” and is aimed at boosting the country’s food and restaurant industry.
A tasty program that should do some serious good, as long as the restaurants practice good physical/social distancing.
The program is expected to cost about 30 billion British pounds, roughly $51 billion CAD. I’d love to see it in Canada.
Air Canada Teams Up With Cleveland Clinic
Air Canada announced today that Cleveland Clinic, a global healthcare leader, will provide medical advisory services as the airline further develops biosafety measures across its operations. Air Canada will have access to the local expertise of Cleveland Clinic Canada as well as clinical expertise from Cleveland Clinic’s worldwide enterprise system.
“As airline travel adapts to a new normal, we are taking another leadership role via our partnership with renowned Cleveland Clinic which enables Air Canada to leverage the strategic insight, advice, resources and recommendations of the world’s leading medical community to further develop protocols, guidelines and standards validated with science-based evidence in our ongoing COVID-19 response. We are committed in our ongoing strategy of continually developing multiple layers of measures for our customers and employees alike,” said Samuel Elfassy, Vice President, Safety at Air Canada.
Air Canada has been at the forefront of the airline industry in responding to COVID-19, including being among the first carriers globally to require face coverings onboard and the first airline in the Americas to take customers’ temperatures prior to boarding. In May it introduced a comprehensive program, Air Canada CleanCare+, to apply industry leading biosafety measures at each stage of the journey.
New Protocols for Cruise Ships
This comes from my friends at TravelPulse in the U.S.
As part of the joint safety task force created by Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, dubbed the Healthy Sail Panel, officials will be developing practical social distancing measures for cruise ships.
When vessels are once again permitted to sail (no definitive timetable has been developed) fficials from both Royal Caribbean and Norwegian said they expect to operate the ships with limited passenger capacity. A Royal Caribbean spokesperson announced the company would reduce the number of travelers allowed on each vessel due to an effort to social distancing protocols developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
New, Private Tours From Trafalgar and Costsaver
In a new initiative announced by Trafalgar and its sister brand Costsaver, for a surcharge, Canadian clients of 12 of more can now book an entire private trip departure in Europe this festive season. Available on all Autumn, Winter and Spring itineraries, this new initiative gives enhanced peace of mind for family and friend groups preferring to travel as their own private group or ‘bubble’ of people. With all travel details taken care of and a dedicated on-road team trained in enhanced physical distancing and hygiene protocols while travelling on luxury coaches with rigorous hygiene standards, this offers the perfect way to ease back in to travel in the changing world.
Both leading brands provide the opportunity for clients looking for different experiences in Europe to have plenty of options. Trafalgar, the world leader in guided vacations offers guests a rich plethora of experiences each day that unlock the heart of each and every destination, and Costsaver, perfect guests looking to choose to travel with the travel essentials taken care of, but with plenty of options to tailor their trip their way in each place.
In the spirit of the more the merrier, the more Canadian clients that travel, the more the surcharge reduces.
- From 12 to 15 guests – 30% surcharge on brochure/advertised price.
- From 16 to 19 guests – 20% surcharge on brochure/advertised price.
- From 20 to 25 guests – 10% surcharge on brochure/advertised price.
- For 26 guests or more, the price is as brochure/advertised, no additional surcharge.
In addition to this new group’s initiative, across all itineraries, Trafalgar and Costsaver have introduced a rigorous set of enhanced new hygiene and distancing guidelines and on-road protocols, adapting to new requirements and expectations and comply with physical distancing requirements by relevant government authorities to give guests enhanced peace of mind. This also includes adjusting guest numbers on its trips and ensuring partners and suppliers agree to new guidelines too. And as part of The Travel Corporation (TTC) guests can also travel with the confidence of that your future travels are in safe hands.
