A new era has come for travel to Canada today (April 1, 2022).
As of April 1, fully vaccinated residents and visitors coming into Canada no longer have to show a negative result from a COVID-19 test.
That means Canadians can travel out of the country and not have to worry about finding an expensive COVID-19 test. They also don’t have to worry that they’ll be denied entry to the country because of a positive test result.
It also means foreign visitors can avoid pricey tests and the worry of testing positive prior to their flight.
It promises to be a major boon for airlines and tour companies that sell Canadians on trips to Europe, the sunny south, and other destinations. It also should go a long way to improving numbers for Canadian tour operators, hotel owners and restaurateurs. That’s especially true in big cities, which have been decimated by two years of a pandemic that has rocked the world.
Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has said that random airport testing will continue, and that travellers will still have to fill out an ArriveCAN app before entering the country. Duclos said fully vaccinated travellers who are randomly tested will not have to quarantine while awaiting their results.
Duclos said those who are partly vaccinated or un-vaccinated will have to take a PCR or molecular-style test upon arrival and again on day eight of their 14-day quarantine period.
Passengers on cruise ships coming to Canada will need to take a rapid antigen test no more than one day before departure, but won’t have to be tested before getting off the cruise ship, said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.
Tourism groups, airlines and others in the industry have hailed the move. But some say the ArriveCAN app is unnecessary, and others argue that post-arrival testing also isn’t needed.
Randy Boissonnault, Canada’s minister of tourism and associate minister of finance, said the new travel measures will make it easier for people to visit Canada as soon as this spring.
“And they will come,” Boissonnault said. “With our high vaccination rates and our focus on health and safety, Canada has a huge advantage in attracting visitors because they know it’s safe to travel to Canada.”
Still, as this space has pointed out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. still puts Canada at its highest risk level for international travel. And that doesn’t help.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has yet to relax its travel restrictions. Visitors flying to the U.S. must still show a negative COVID-19 test result (rapid tests are fine) taken with a day of their flight.
Travel industry officials in the States last week asked the Biden administration to eliminate the pre-departure test requirement for international travelers and also get rid of the federal mask mandate for airline passengers.
