TRAVEL NOTEBOOK JANUARY 25, 2021: Great Britain and Australia easing travel rules, Calgary hotel owners cry for help, and American travel confidence grows.
My first item of the day is a very big story out of Great Britain.
Associated Press reports that the British government announced Monday “that it is scrapping coronavirus testing requirements for vaccinated people arriving in England, news hailed by the travel industry as a big step back to normality.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move is being made “to show that this country is open for business, open for travelers. You will see changes so that people arriving no longer have to take tests if they have been vaccinated, if they have been double vaccinated.”
The new rules are expected to take effect February 11, said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Border testing of vaccinated travelers has outlived its usefulness,” he said. “Today we are setting Britain free.”
It’s time the Justin Trudeau government made a similar move, says the head of a prominent Canadian tourism group.
“Now that we are seeing other countries lift their testing requirements (such as Australia on Friday), it is time to Canada to do the same,” Beth Potter, CEO and President of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said in an email. ” The confusion and delays that pre-departure and on-arrival testing are causing is having an impact on Canada’s travel and tourism industry.
“After 22 months of shut downs, restrictions, and a narrative that told people to stay home, it is time for change. It’s time to travel again.”
The Australian government last Friday said that returning travellers will be able to take a rapid antigen test (RAT) within 24 hours of their flight, rather than having to take an expensive PCR test within three days, as is currently required, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
CALGARY HOTEL CRISIS
The Kensington Riverside Inn in Calgary. PHOTO COURTESY KENSINGTON RIVERSIDE INN
Yesterday I ran an item about Montreal hoteliers who have been devastated by COVID-19. Today I see it’s Calgary hotel owners making the same point.
Owners say that Canadian government restrictions and the U.S. decision to warn against travel to Canada have been a “disaster” for the city’s hotel industry.
The Calgary Herald says that the head of the Calgary Hotel Association (CHA), Sol Zia, called on the city to scrap city utility fees and municipal taxes from Jan. 1 to May 31 for hotels that are able to show a 40% or greater drop in revenues compared to 2019.
AMERICAN TRAVEL CONFIDENCE BOUNCES BACK
According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travellers, the news of peaking and even declining new COVID-19 infections in some regions of the U.S. is restoring confidence in future travel. The percentage of travelers planning trips in the next six months has risen to 91%, matching the highest level seen since the beginning of the pandemic almost two years ago.
As well, just one-third of travellers now say that coronavirus will greatly impact their decision to travel in the next six months, down from two thirds of travelers back in April 2020.
That’s great news.
