The travel news from Europe and Hong Kong is bad. But things may be looking up for Canadian tourism in the Atlantic provinces. My Future of Travel report for July 27.
It was only a few weeks ago that the UK put Spain on its good list, saying it was safe for its residents to take a holiday there. Now, with a surge in cases in Barcelona and other places, the UK has put Spain back on its naughty list, meaning UK residents would have to quarantine after coming home.
The World Travel and Tourism Council called the move a “bitter blow” and suggested local lockdowns would be a more effective tool for fighting than the virus than broad travel restrictions.
The BBC says Norway has similar rules and France has a travel warning for Spain.
“France and Germany have also both seen new cases rise, as nations grapple between staving off fresh outbreaks and reopening economies,” the BBC said.
Channel News Asia, meanwhile, says Hong Kong has banned dine-in services at restaurants, restricted social gatherings to no more than two people and will enforce masks in public places. This comes after Hong Kong registered more than 100 new cases for the fifth day in a row.
Meanwhile, despite a mini-surge in some parts of Canada, the premier of Nova Scotia is talking about ending the province’s requirement for 14-day quarantines for most arriving Canadians.
The Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland & Labrador) recently instituted a so-called Atlantic bubble, which means visitors from those four provinces don’t have to self quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. But other Canadians do.
The bubble was supposed to help boost Atlantic Canada economies, but reports suggest it’s been a bit of a bust. Which doesn’t surprise me; I said a couple weeks ago that the smaller provinces need visitors from big, bad Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and other major cities if they’re going to rescue their summer tourism.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil suggested to reporters on Friday that something might change soon.
The Citadel in Halifax. JIM BYERS PHOTO
“Opening up to the rest of the country is something we’re going to have to do,” he said, according to Halifax Today. “We need to live with COVID until there’s a vaccine.”
“We can’t stay closed forever. Our families need to reunite and our economy needs to ignite.”
“I’m afraid if we don’t safely open up to the rest of Canada, most of our tourism businesses will have to shut down,” McNeil said. “They employ thousands of Nova Scotians across this province and we can’t afford to lose the tourism industry.”
McNeil believes Canadian tourists might stop booking trips to Nova Scotia if the borders don’t open soon.
“That does not mean we will be opening up to international travel of any kind, but it means we would be allowing Canadians to move across our country, as all of us quite frankly today have the right to do in every other part of Canada.”
