In an important symbolic step that could help boost international travel, the Canadian government has withdrawn its long-standing advisory against foreign travel by Canadians.
The Trudeau government’s travel advisory page has contained a recommendation to avoid all international travel for more than a year, but it has been quietly dropped, perhaps in light of Thursday’s announcement that vaccine passports will be required for most travel by November 30.
Instead of a general warning at the top of the advisory page, there is now a statement that says fully vaccinated before travelling. It also states that even though vaccines provide protection against serious illness, “you may still be at risk of infection from the virus that causes COVID-19.”
While the general advisory against international travel is no longer present on the site, there is still a warning to avoid all cruise ship travel outside Canada.
Frederic Dimanche, Director of the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University in Toronto, said it’s a big change.
“This was a long-awaited decision,” Dimanche told me this morning. “It sends an international signal that Canada is open for business again, and more importantly, it will contribute to help Canadians get back some of the confidence they badly needed to return to travelling, but also to get back to work.
“As you know, organizations struggle to have white collar employees back at work. This decision sends a positive message after months of government communication that established fear in the minds of many people,” he said.
“It will take time, but with the high vaccination rates and the requirements to be vaccinated for travelling, it should definitely help people gain confidence back.”
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the airline “welcomes the federal government’s removal of its advisory against non-essential travel as an acknowledgement that air travel is safe and a significant step forward in reviving the air transport industry.”
“With the advisory removed, we now look forward to other measures by the government to make travel more convenient and affordable, such as by removing requirements for pre-departure testing for fully vaccinated travellers, as recommended by its own expert panel report,” he said in an email to jimbyerstravel.com.
Mike McNaney, president and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada, said he’s happy to see the blanket advisory lifted.
“It’s an important step for the industry. With the government requiring aviation employees and travellers to be fully vaccinated and given the federal – provincial – territorial agreement on a standardized proof of vaccination, it is time to amend other travel measures, such as eliminating mandatory PCR testing pre-departure for fully vaccinated international travellers coming to Canada,” he said.
The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies said on its Twitter feed that the move “will help support travel sector recovery, and we are pleased with this change.” But they also said they’re “disappointed that the ‘avoid all cruise travel’ advisory remains for fully-vaccinated travellers, despite proof that safe operations are feasible.
“We call on (the federal) government to remove this advisory for fully-vaccinated travellers,” the group said.
The Canadian government travel advisory site lists four levels of concern for Canadians to take into account and assigns a level for each country:
- Exercise normal security precautions.
- Exercise a high degree of caution.
- Avoid non-essential travel.
- Avoid all travel.
As of yesterday, the U.S. was listed in the “exercise normal security precautions” category, as were such popular destinations as Cuba, Italy, Portugal and Barbados. The UK today is listed in the “exercise high degree of caution” category.
