A prominent Canadian tourism official says news that Canada will allow more student workers into the country is a big boost for the hospitality industry. Ottawa on Thursday launched the 2023 International Experience Canada (IEC) Program with a 20% increase in the number of applicants who can apply. Applicants will be able to apply as of January 9, 2023. IEC is a reciprocal program that allows Canadian and international youth to work and travel in each other’s countries. This increase means that nearly 90,000 candidates will be able to work and travel in Canada, including Francophone youth, which will help Read more
Ottawa
At the World Travel Market in London this week ForwardKeys has announced the performance of the top global destinations of 2022 by publishing an annual Most Visited Destinations report that is available in hard copy at the event and to download at the bottom of this page. The top country list is headed by the Dominican Republic, and the top city list by Antalya in Turkey. Between 1st January and 18th October (the latest available air ticketing data), the Dominican Republic welcomed 5% more visitors than it did in 2019. It is followed by Turkey and Costa Rica and Mexico, Read more
The Trudeau government is on pace to reach more than $54 million in spending on the controversial ArriveCAN app; more than double what has been spent so far. The Globe and Mail reports that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) recently submitted documents to the Canadian Parliament that list 27 contracts involving 23 unique companies all working on the app. This was after the CBSA told media outlets over the summer that only five companies had received contracts, the newspaper said. The CBSA originally said it has spent $19.7-million on developing the app and $4.9-million on app maintenance, but reports Read more
How’s this for an interesting turn of events. The Trudeau government in Canada, which was roundly criticized in some circles for being too strict about travel restrictions during the pandemic, eliminated all travel rules on Saturday, October 1. But the U.S. hasn’t done the same. As of today, October 5, the U.S. still requires all non U.S. residents to show proof of vaccination before entering the country. It’s not an overly onerous policy (no troublesome apps to deal with or random testing), but it’s something that the U.S. tourism industry says discourages visitors from taking trips to New York City, Read more
A day many Canadians thought might never arrive is coming next week. The Government of Canada today announced the removal of all COVID-19 entry restrictions, as well as testing, quarantine, and isolation requirements for anyone entering Canada, effective October 1, 2022. Masks also will no longer be required on trains and planes in Canada. The removal of border measures has been facilitated by a number of factors, including modelling that indicates that Canada has largely passed the peak of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 fuelled wave, Canada’s high vaccination rates, lower hospitalization and death rates, as well as the availability Read more
