Australia today said it will open to fully vaccinated visitors as of Feb. 21. New Zealand has a plan to welcome foreign travellers over the next six months or so.
And then there’s Canada, which continues to treat the tourism and travel industry like some kind of pariah.
While other countries recognize the value of travel and tourism to their economies, Canada continues its over-the-top testing regulations, which discourage Canadians from travelling abroad and also discourage visitors from spending their money in Canadian cities and towns that are desperate for tourism dollars.
WestJet last month clipped its flight schedule by 20% because of a lack of demand that’s partly the fault of over-regulation by the Canadian government. The airline today extended that reduction through the end of March. That means fewer jobs for Canadians, as well as a continuing hit on countries around the world that rely on Canadian visitors to feed their families.
“Canada remains the only country among the G7 nations to still require mandatory pre-departure and on-arrival PCR testing,” Harry Taylor, Interim President & CEO, The WestJet Group., said today. “Countries across the globe are recognizing the importance of travel and tourism on economic recovery and we are witnessing them take measures to safely re-open their borders and make sensible adjustments to overall travel guidance and testing requirements.
“It is disappointing that Canada remains stagnant in its approach and continues to make travel inaccessible and punitive for Canadians and inbound tourists.”
Taylor said travel advisories, restrictions and testing requirements in Canada were meant to be temporary, “yet our industry has now reached an impasse that is severely impacting the recovery of our airline and sector.”
“The time is now to present a path forward that is in line with our global counterparts, reflective of current data and once again makes travel accessible and affordable for Canadians,” he said.
Canada’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, seems to agree. She said last Friday that Canadian health restrictions need to be “re-examined” given the state of the country’s health. But there’s been no change as of yet.
I actually think the government MIGHT have been ready to announce changes a week or so ago. But when you have major protests like the ones taking place in Ottawa and Toronto, it actually hurts.
If the Justin Trudeau government eases restrictions today, they look like they’re bending to pressure. The protests might be aimed at producing changes, but if you ask me they’ve only delayed the process; perhaps by quite a long time.
