WestJet and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada say they welcome today’s announced changes to Canada’s travel rules. But both groups, along with the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, say tourism and the travel industry won’t recover as long as there are still pre-arrival testing laws in place.
“The WestJet Group welcomes today’s announcement from the federal government outlining changes to Canada’s border measures and travel policies,” airline officials said. “The WestJet Group will continue to advocate, based on science and data, for the removal of all measures impacting fully-vaccinated air travellers.”
“As a fully-vaccinated industry, we have worked with public health authorities and all governments to curb COVID-19 and today’s announcement validates that travel has never been a significant vector of transmission,” said Angela Avery, WestJet Executive Vice-President, External Affairs.
Officials said WestJet “continues to advocate for the return to surveillance arrivals testing only, and for the federal government to outline a recovery road map for the travel and tourism industry, based on science and reflective of the current realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. ”
“As measures transition and Canada’s pandemic situation continues to improve, we are optimistic that the remaining policies will be reassessed and removed for fully-vaccinated travellers in the weeks ahead as outlined today by the ministers,” Avery said.
“Though today’s announcement brings us one step closer to where our industry needs to be, in requiring pre-departure rapid antigen tests, the government missed an opportunity to align with other international jurisdictions that removed pre-departure test requirements for fully vaccinated travellers,” the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable said in a statement today. “With these changes, the travel and tourism sector continues to be the only industry subject to mandatory testing, despite being safer than everyday activities.
“We look forward to reviewing the details around these announced changes and to a continued dialogue with government to re-open our economy and get our sector back on its feet.”
“While ACTA (the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies) welcomes this change as an important step forward, we urge the government to lift all pre-departure testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers,” said Wendy Paradis, ACTA president. “Rapid antigen tests are an additional cost and often difficult to procure. All testing requirements create uncertainty and deter travel. There is no scientific basis to single-out travel for testing.”
“We’re encouraged today by the Government of Canada’s move to end to PCR tests for fully-vaccinated travellers as of Feb. 28,” said Beth Potter, President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. “A negative antigen, or rapid, test is far less onerous and cumbersome to procure.
“We have been advocating heavily for this change on behalf of our members as well as the tourism industry at large; especially in recent weeks as the pandemic, vaccination status, and available science have evolved.”
Today’s news from Ottawa is a step in the right direction, but Potter said TIAC looks forward to the Justin Trudeau government removing the rapid test requirement in the near future.
“As Canada enters a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic – one marked by widespread vaccination and high levels of prior infection, and one which many Medical Officers of Health have called endemic – it’s time for the federal government to reopen Canada by ending not just PCR, but also antigen testing for all fully-vaccinated travellers.”
Prior to COVID-19, tourism was one of the fastest growing industries in the world, Potter said. As one of Canada’s largest industries, tourism was responsible for $105 billion in GDP, provided one in 10 Canadian jobs, and was made up of 225,000 small- and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
“When COVID-19 arrived, tourism was the industry first hit, hardest hit, and will be the last to fully recover,” Potter said.
According to Statistics Canada, as of December 2020, businesses in the tourism sector accounted for 7.7% of all employer businesses in Canada, of which the vast majority (98.0%) were small businesses with less than 100 employees.
More than four-fifths (84.3%) of businesses in the tourism sector experienced a decrease in revenue in 2020 compared with three-fifths (60.5%) of all businesses. Almost half (44.9%) of businesses in the tourism sector experienced a decline of 40% or more in revenue in 2020, with those in Northwest Territories (52.4%), Prince Edward Island (51.6%), and Manitoba (51.3%) most likely to see this level of loss
Unifor, which represents Canadian aviation workers, said it also welcomes the changes.
“Canadians are ready to travel for work and for pleasure,” said Scott Doherty, the Executive Assistant to the Unifor’s National President. “Having these rules lifted will not only encourage more people to want to travel, but it removes some of the red tape for those returning to Canada.”
