In a further blow to the travel industry, Minister Duclos today announced in a press conference that Ottawa is bringing back its travel advisory warning against non-essential travel, which takes effect on 15DEC for a period of four weeks.
The Minister added that upon completion of the four week period, continued implementation of the advisory would be considered depending on the global health situation.
In terms of domestic travel, Duclos said that any potential restrictions for inter-provincial travel is up to the Premiers.
The new measures have been put in place due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Even without considering the Omicron variant, Duclos said that a spike of COVID-19 cases within Canada is expected within the coming weeks.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that the federal government will set aside an additional CAD $4.5 billion for its tourism recovery program, which would provide wage and rent subsidies for travel and tourism businesses affected by travel restrictions for up to 75 per cent.
Minister of Transportation Omar Alghabra added that Canada is re-evaluating its current travel testing policies, including how Canadians do not need PCR testing for trips less than 72 hours to the U.S., but no decisions have been made so far.
In responding to questions, Minister Duclos said there will be further updates on Canada’s travel ban of 10 African countries within the coming days."
The announcements having been somewhat thin on specifics, the speakers have directed Canadians to visit travel.gc.ca for updates.
this is going to be devastating for the travel industry… I have a large group for February already cancelling and anyone who was thinking about booking in early 2022, has already called to say they will not travel anymore… does this mean only “the public” has to stay home or are the politicians planning on travelling themselves like they did last time or are they going to stay home too… ? do as I say, not as I do.??? not sure if I will be able to stay solvent this way… thankfully I work from home (after paying TICO an exorbitant amount to do so) but I still have expenses to keep and utilities to cover, taxes , phone internet, licensing etc…already have invested my personal retirement funds into staying open… how much more are we going to be able to take… and yep people are afraid of the rules more than the variant… the ever changing rules are the problem and I have been working since this started for free, juggling these rules, constantly, dealing with tardy insurance companies, angry or overly stressed clients, ever changing rules!!! the Travel industry is doomed and we cannot do anything about it… nothing we have done… nothing we can do, we are at the mercy of the government who don’t care, just put in more and more rules…. so, now what?