By Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable
The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable ("The Roundtable"), comprised of leaders across the travel and tourism industry - with representatives from airlines, airports, hotels, and travel organizations - is calling on the federal government to promote a responsible reboot of the travel and tourism industry during Canada's National Tourism Week, reports Crision. The Roundtable is calling on the federal government to provide urgent relief at the border by alleviating pressures currently facing travelers at Canada's airports before June 15, 2022.
The Roundtable appreciates recent decisions by the federal government to increase the number of Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) screening officers. However, these measures are longer-term solutions that will take weeks before materially impacting wait times for travelers at Canadian airports.
The Roundtable is therefore urging the federal government to take the following short-term actions, to alleviate pressure on the system, by no later than June 15, 2022:
- Remove vaccination mandates for Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) workers;
- Remove the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC) duplicate health checks and questions through ArriveCan at government checkpoints
- Relocate or remove on-site mandatory random testing from Canada's airports; and,
- Establish clear service standard benchmarks for security and customs processing of passengers traveling through Canadian airports.
Canadians can attend concerts, go to sporting events, and gather in significant numbers; travel should no longer be singled out with unscientific and unnecessary COVID policies which many countries around the world have rightfully removed.
To help the sector recover, the Roundtable is urging the federal government to remove bottleneck, bureaucratic processes and streamline government checkpoints. The government needs to require their agencies need to meet their intended levels of service and performance benchmarks. This will provide predictability for travelers looking to depart and arrive in Canada.
Monitoring for potential COVID-19 variants can be accomplished through proven scientific options such as community wastewater testing, which is widely supported by scientific and medical communities. Canada's airports simply do have the infrastructure or the space to provide on-site passenger testing for COVID-19.
Canadians are ready to travel abroad, and international travelers are ready to travel to Canada. As demand for travel returns and other global economies re-open, Canada's border policies and resources need to reflect the new reality.
Quotes
"With National Tourism Week in full swing, we are looking forward to encouraging Canadians to travel again. When the pandemic began, tourism was the industry's first hit, hardest hit, and will be the last to fully recover. Prior to COVID-19, tourism was one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, but hangover public health requirements are stifling the industry's ability to recover. We need to remove unnecessary requirements and streamline duplicative processes at our airports immediately as travel volumes increase by the day," said Susie Grynol, President of the Hotel Association of Canada.
"The Travel and Tourism industry has only just begun the long road to recovery after more than two years of uncertainty. Health restrictions first implemented at the beginning of the pandemic are contributing to the loss and postponement of business travel, conferences and events across the country, which has the potential for long-term impacts," said Patrick Doyle, Vice President and General Manager at American Express Global Business Travel.
"There is a lot of pent-up demand for travel. In May, our hub airports began to see 70% of pre-pandemic passenger traffic levels. Canada's four hub airports are currently processing on average 56,000 international passengers a day this is forecasted to grow by 50% per day this summer. It's challenging to manage that level of traffic, with the left over, legacy public health protocols still in place at our international borders. It would normally take a customs agent 30 seconds to process a passenger and now it's taking two to four times that because of public health protocols. Normal travel volumes cannot co-exist with current public health protocols in place within our airport facilities. We need the federal government to remove the remaining public health requirements at the border to immediately alleviate pressure on the system," said Monette Pasher, Interim President of the Canadian Airports Council.
As demand for travel returns and other global economies re-open, Canada's border policies need to reflect the new reality, or risk being a country left behind. It is time for the Government of Canada to revisit COVID-19 pandemic restrictions placed on air travel, in line with a growing list of over 50 countries that have removed barriers to travel altogether," said Suzanne Acton-Gervais, Interim President and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada.
About the Canadian Tourism Roundtable
The Canadian Tourism Roundtable is a cross-Canadian coalition of leaders in the tourism and travel sector – including representatives from airports, airlines, hotels, and chambers of commerce across the country – committed to working together to restart the sector smoothly and safely. Travel and Tourism is a $105 billion sector, employing millions of Canadians across the country and accounting for 2.1% of the country's gross domestic product. It advocates for a safe and prosperous tourism and travel sector across Canada.