TRAVEL NOTEBOOK JANUARY 25, 2021: Great Britain and Australia easing travel rules, Calgary hotel owners cry for help, and American travel confidence grows. My first item of the day is a very big story out of Great Britain. Associated Press reports that the British government announced Monday “that it is scrapping coronavirus testing requirements for vaccinated people arriving in England, news hailed by the travel industry as a big step back to normality.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move is being made “to show that this country is open for business, open for travelers. You will see changes so Read more
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A Radio-Canada report says the Trudeau government could eliminate mandatory on-arrival testing within days. Their report says the Liberal government in Ottawa “plans to backtrack and return, quickly, to the establishment of random tests” for air passengers arriving in Canada. “The final decision has not yet been made, but, according to a federal source very close to the file, it is a matter of weeks, even days,” said Radio-Canada. Several tourism groups and a group that represents Canadian travel agents have recently called for an end to the government’s mandatory on-arrival testing, which was introduced late last year for passengers Read more
The Omicron variant and travel slowdown is forcing WestJet to cancel 20% of their flights through the end of February. The airline issued the following statement today (Tuesday, Feb. 18): “In response to the Omicron variant affecting staffing levels and the prolonged impact of government barriers on our business, WestJet has made the difficult decision to consolidate 20% of its scheduled flights from February 1 through to February 28, 2022. These reductions are in addition to WestJet’s January flight consolidation announcement,” which saw 15% of flights cancelled for the month. “As we continue to navigate the unpredictability of the Omicron Read more
There’s growing evidence that Canada is open to changing its on-arrival testing program for international air travellers. A prominent tourism and business group yesterday called for on-arrival tests to be scrapped, arguing they’re not necessary and that tests should be redeployed to help make up for test shortages in Canadian communities. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, said later in the day that the policy will be evaluated “over time.” “It is a capacity drain on the system as a whole,” she said, acknowledging the concerns raised by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable group. “Tracking every case isn’t Read more
The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is calling on the federal government to redeploy PCR tests used for on-arrival testing of fully-vaccinated, asymptomatic and previously negative travellers into Canada for community use and for a return to randomized on-arrival testing for surveillance purposes. “On December 17, the federal government announced additional measures to contain the spread of the Omicron variant,” The Roundtable said in a statement. “This included the increase of on-arrival PCR testing for travellers arriving from destinations other than the United States and isolation until test results are received, despite all travellers being fully vaccinated, asymptomatic and having Read more
