A new survey finds that roughly one-third of Canadians have cancelled travel plans due to the Omicron variant. The survey by Canadian-based redflagdeals.com found that 31% of respondents said they’ve cancelled flights because of the variant. Of course, that means nearly 70% plan to go ahead with travel plans. WestJet officials today told me they were very busy over the Christmas weekend. The survey also found that 63% of Canadians are hesitant about booking new flights right now. But Canadians also appear optimistic about the future. While only 22% of Canadians plan to fly in the next one to three Read more
December 2021
The U.S. has been plagued by holiday cancellations, but Canada’s two largest airlines say things are much smoother north of the border. Multiple reports out of the United States this weekend point to major cancellation issues, blamed on both staffing shortages and weather issues. The website flightaware.com, which tracks planes around the world, reported 690 cancellations for flights within or into/out of the U.S. on Christmas Eve, followed by 996 on Christmas Day. As of 1 p.m. Eastern Time today, the site was reporting 774 cancellations for flights within or into/out of the U.S. Delta was looking at 131 cancellations Read more
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada is welcoming the federal government’s announcement to introduce new regulations that would temporarily expand the Local Lockdown Program to include employers subject to capacity-limiting restrictions of 50 per cent or more and reduce the current-month revenue decline threshold requirement to 25 per cent. They also are applauding the temporary expansion of the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit to include workers in regions where provincial or territorial governments have introduced capacity-limiting restrictions of 50 per cent or more. The Liberal government on Wednesday announced new programs to help businesses and workers hit by partial lockdowns across Canada. Read more
The Canadian government is not going to be closing its borders to battle Omicron, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today. Speaking at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau said the Omicron variants “is already here.” “Shutting down the borders at this point would not be an effective measure,” Trudeau said. The government instead feels its best to try to limit gathering sizes and improve COVID-19 testing, he said. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos echoed Trudeau’s comments, saying Canada has “some of the strongest border measures” in the world. He also noted that visitors to Canada must be tested for the coronavirus before Read more
Prince Edward Island has joined Newfoundland & Labrador by bringing in required quarantine periods for visitors. In yet another setback for the Canadian travel and tourism industry, PEI leaders say that, as of today (Dec. 22) at 8 a.m., fully vaccinated visitors to the province will have to isolate for four days. Every visitor who enters PEI will be given two rapid COVID-19 tests and must complete them on day two and day four. If both tests show negative results, the individual can leave isolation. Unvaccinated individuals must complete eight days of self-isolation. Visitors to PEI also must fill out Read more
