In yet another blow for Canadians wishing to travel, and for the Canadian travel industry, Canada has been removed from the European Union’s Safe Travel list. The EU regularly updates its list of countries that are safe for travel into Europe. Their latest update, which took place on Monday, Feb. 17, removed Canada from that list, as well as Argentina and Australia. “Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which Read more
Europe
There are more positive signs pointing to a travel rebound this year and in the coming years, both for leisure and business travel. According to a report from Reuters, Spanish tourism officials expect the country’s tourism gross domestic product to reach $186 billion CAD in 2022. That would be 88% of pre-pandemic levels, versus just 57% for last year. Officials said they expect to return to full pre-pandemic activity by 2023. It’s not just Spain that’s painting a rosy tourism picture. The Global Business Travel Association this week said global business travel spending is expected to surge in 2022. The Read more
CS Global Partners, the world’s leading government advisory and marketing firm, has released its much-anticipated World Citizenship Report (WCR). The WCR showcases the World Citizenship Index (WCI), a distinctive tool that compares world citizenships from the perspective of a global citizen. The index’s methodology evaluates 187 jurisdictions across five key motivators defining citizenship for the global citizen. Reliance was placed on official statistics to evaluate a score for the defined motivators of Safety and Security, Quality of Life, Economic Opportunity, Global Mobility and Financial Freedom. Backed by research from leading data banks, interviews and a survey undertaken by over 500 Read more
Tourism Ireland welcomes news about the lifting of additional pre-testing requirement for travel to the island of Ireland. For visitors arriving into the Republic of Ireland from today (January 6) onward, vaccinated people with a valid Digital Covid Certificate or another valid proof of recent infection or vaccination will not need a test. Unvaccinated people will need a “not detected” PCR test result taken within 72 hours of their arrival into Ireland. These new regulations are effective immediately for the Republic of Ireland: • Vaccinated or recovered travellers into Ireland will be required to present evidence of a valid Digital Read more
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. recently bumped cruise ship travel to its highest travel advisory level, recommending that Americans avoid cruise travel due to “very high” COVID-19 levels. But Avalon Waterways says they operated more than 100 cruises this past summer and fall without incident. “In fact, after operating more than 100 cruises this summer and fall across Europe, Egypt and the Galapagos Islands – and testing every single cruise passenger in preparation for their journeys home – Avalon Waterways ended its 2021 cruise season with ZERO (0) COVID-19 cases onboard. Not one of our Read more
