The Canadian travel industry saw a ray of hope last week when Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos hinted that changes will soon be coming to the country's strict border and travel restrictions.
"In short order we should be able to announce updates to border measures, next week," said Minister Duclos.
In response, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, a national coalition of industry leaders representing airports, airlines, hotels, and chambers of commerce leaders, issued a statement encouraging a loosening of restrictions.
"The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable looks forward to the federal government announcing changes to its travel and border measures next week. There is no scientific reason that justifies travel being singled out as the only activity that requires testing and isolation," the group stated.
"Accordingly, we are hopeful that the Canadian government will establish a plan with a clear timeline for removing restrictions, including the removal of unnecessary pre-departure and arrivals testing and isolation requirements for fully vaccinated travellers and blanket travel advisories, as has been done by other international jurisdictions."
Despite signalling changes to national policies, Minister Duclos told reporters that the Omicron crisis isn't over. "We're not out of the woods yet. We will base our decision-making on science and prudence. Given that we have several layers of protection, we can play off them."
While many other countries are dropping travel restrictions, the Canadian government still warns against non-essential travel, and requires travellers to provide a negative PCR test before returning to the country. This requirement adds significant cost to travel and is seen as a major deterrent.
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