Today’s announcement that Canadians who take trips to the U.S. for less than 72 hours no longer need a COVID test to return home doesn’t help Canada’s battered tourism sector, critics say. The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable said it acknowledges today’s announcement by the Canadian government removing the pre-departure PCR testing requirement (indeed, all testing requirements) for Canadians returning from the United States for trips less than 72 hours. The PCR test policy, however, remains in effect for Canadians who leave the country for more than 72 hours. Critics have noted that the tests are prohibitively expensive, sometimes more Read more
November 2021
A never-before-seen archaeological find in Wanuskewin Heritage Park in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan unlocks fascinating information about the Northern Plains Indigenous Peoples who gathered on the land for more than 6,400 years. The find was announced today by Dr Ernie Walker, chief archaeologist and park co-founder. Bison activity has also been credited for uncovering four petroglyphs and the tool used to carve them. “The discovery of these petroglyphs is a testament to just how sacred and important this land is,” says Darlene Brander, CEO Wanuskewin Heritage Park. “The individual who made these petroglyphs was actually carving their legacy into the rock many Read more
The Conference Board of Canada and Expedia Group say travel and tourism are definitely on the upswing. In their latest report, the Conference Board found that 86% of Canadians say they miss travelling. Better yet, the numbers who report that COVID-19 is slowing their travel plans is down sharply. Speaking during a zoom session put on by the Discover America Canada Committee, Jennifer Hendry, the conference board’s Senior Research Associate, said that in October of 2020, 62% of Canadians had no travel plans. In their October, 2021 report, that number was down to 47%. Hendry says that shows that “the Read more
Now, this is impressive. A new report from Visit Florida shows that Sunshine State tourism numbers in the third quarter of this year surpassed those from the same period in 2019, prior to the pandemic. The Daytona Times and News Service of Florida report that the estimated total of 32.517 million tourists between July 1 and Sept. 30 bested 2019 figures by just over 0.3 per cent. That’s nothing short of remarkable, and one of the strongest signs yet that travel and tourism are bouncing back. Tourism officials said most of the visitors were domestic, as the U.S. border was Read more
Canadian taxpayers are saving themselves a huge chunk of money. In another sign of the travel recovery in Canada, Air Canada has announced that due to its improved liquidity position and ongoing recovery from the pandemic, it is withdrawing from further government of Canada financial support. The support package, announced in April 2021, provided the carrier access to interest-bearing loans of $5.375 billion through several separate credit facilities. To date, Air Canada has only accessed the facility solely dedicated to refunding customers’ non-refundable tickets, while all other remaining facilities totaling $3.975 billion that were offered by the Justin Trudeau government Read more
