ETA Canada Travel Pass News

The number of people travelling to Canada in January has increased from last year however has remained lower than what it was prior the COVID-19 outbreak Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

According to the federal agency, some 218,600 American residents traveled to Canada in January, compared to 86,500 in the same month a year earlier. They were still far fewer than the 1.2 million Americans who visited the country in January 2020.

In January 2020 Canada welcomed 365,600 travellers. The number of international visitors (not including those from the United States) arriving to Canada in January was 79,700, compared to 34,500 in January 2021.

January 2022 reports show that there were 690,200 returning Canadian residents from the United States. January 2021 saw just 265,000 returning residents from Canada.  This years figured are still very low compare to the 3.1 million in January 2020.

463,700 Canadian residents returned from travel overseas in January 2022, more than double the seen in January 2021 with just 160,500 returning residents. Again, this is down from January 2020 where the boarders welcome 1.4 million returning Canadians from overseas travels.

Ottawa advised Canadian on December 15 2021 to avoid all non-essential travel out of Canada as COVID-19 cases were on the rise. Shortly after the announcement on December 21 2021, the Canadian government imposed requirements that meant all travelers entering Canada to provide a negative molecular test result for COVID-19.

As announced by the Government of Canada, effective April 1, 2022 the pre-departure testing requirement for travel to Canada will be removed for fully vaccinated travellers.

This means that, beginning April 1st, fully vaccinated travellers five years of age and older will no longer be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test or Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) before travel to Canada.

Mandatory randomized on-arrival testing at Canadian airports will continue to be in effect. Fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada may undergo on-arrival testing if randomly selected and, if selected, will not be required to self-isolate while awaiting the test results.

Partially vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers will continue to be subject to mandatory testing on arrival, on day 8 and will still be required to quarantine for 14 days.

Note that the pre-departure testing requirement is still in effect for fully vaccinated travellers up to and including March 31, 2022.

All passengers aged 5 years and above are required by the Government of Canada to supply a negative COVID test prior to boarding.

A passenger can opt for a pre-departure Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).  The test must be taken no more than one day prior to the scheduled flight departure. Alternatively, a passenger may choose to take a pre-departure COVID-19 molecular test (PCR test). The COVID-19 molecular test is required be taken within 72 hours of the scheduled departure.

Travellers who have previously contracted the COVID-19 infection and since recovered can provide a positive PCR test result taken at least 10 days prior to departure and no longer than 180 days before entering Canada.

While coach travel has gradually resumed over the past year, the situation is different for group tours organized abroad. The withdrawal of the requirement for a mandatory screening test to enter Canada as of April 1 could, however, mark the beginning of a real recovery.

“We see the wave coming at high speed”, predicts the sales and marketing director of Tours Chanteclerc, Marie-Eve Bédard. She said Ottawa’s lifting of the advisory earlier this week asking Canadians to avoid cruises and the end of mandatory COVID-19 testing for all fully vaccinated travelers will be “a big difference” in supply and demand for organized group tours. Several tour operators, including Tours Chanteclerc, were waiting for this announcement to relaunch their group tours abroad.

“The reality of an individual trip and that of a group trip are totally different, especially in the current context, notes Ms. Bédard. In a group trip of two or three days to New York, for example, where you have to plan time for the tests of 30 or 40 people, it complicates the organization.

Despite these constraints, some tour operators have organized tours outside of Canada in recent months. Voyages Gendron has resumed its coach tours in the United States, at maximum capacity, and relaunched its ski trips in Europe a few weeks ago. “We have reached a hundred departures [Canada and the United States] planned for the coming season, underlines Marc-Olivier Gagné, director of digital development. We are starting to add more trips to New York. There is interest. It’s starting to be felt more and more.”

On board the coach, wearing a mask is compulsory and the cabin is disinfected twice a day. “Since we resumed group travel, we have had no positive cases,” says Jonathan Gloutnay, director of coach travel at Voyages Gendron.

Despite the announcement on Thursday of the withdrawal of mandatory screening tests to enter Canada, it could take weeks before a real resumption of international supply is felt. “For the spring, we have already canceled our departures because it was still too uncertain,” says Marie-Eve Bédard.

Air Canada has announced it will resume its direct flights from Yellowknife to Edmonton and Vancouver this summer. WestJet is set to increase the number of flights for the same routes beginning in May.

Both Air Canada and WestJet were forced to drastically scale back their services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The travel industry body NWT Tourism announced Air Canada will resume all direct flights between Yellowknife, Edmonton, and Vancouver beginning June 1, 2022.

WestJet has increased their flights from twice weekly to once daily between Yellowknife and Edmonton. The airline’s website has begun selling tickets for the once-daily route beginning May 2, 2022. Currently, WestJet flies between Yellowknife and Calgary daily.

Air North has stated that they plan to resume the Yellowknife Ottawa flights from May 2022 with the planned introduction of an additional direct flight between Yellowknife and Toronto.

Air Canada has announced it will be temporarily pausing all direct flights between Canada and Hong Kong.

The airline’s decision to pause the Canada – Hong Kong flight route is due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions including government-imposed entry requirements, cabin crew constraints, and local movement restrictions.

Air Canada has announced its plans to resume flights from Vancouver International Airport on April 23, 2022, and Toronto Pearson International Airport on May 1, 2022.

Affected customers who have booked directly with Air Canada have been contacted and offered guidance for a refund or rebooking. Passengers who have made their flight booking with a travel agent or by using an online travel agency have been asked to contact their booking agent directly for a refund or rebooking assistance.

Air Transat is restoring most of its routes ahead of the busy summer season, including destinations in Europe and the US.

Montreal Airlines announced on Monday 7 March that it intends to gradually resume flights to a total of 25 European destinations starting in April 2022, including the 6 it currently serves.
In the height of summer, Air Transat will operate 250 flights a week on 69 direct routes.

This increase follows the relaxation of pandemic restrictions targeting the tourism sector.

Transat sales and marketing director Joseph Adamo said the outlook for the summer season is positive as the company prepares to meet significant latent demand.
Admo stated that due to the increase in demand the company is able to increase capacity on some key routes towards the end of the winter season.

While it’s easy to feel helpless in the face of war in Ukraine citizens have found an unusual way to send aid directly to the population. Tens of thousands of Internet users around the world have booked accommodation on Airbnb in Kyiv, or in other cities of the country without intending to stay there.

The goal is to offer help and funds to Ukrainians and their families to face the situation in which they find themselves. By reserving their “false stay”, they hope that the entirety of their donation will end up in the pocket of the hosts.

In just 48 hours when the movement began earlier this month, 61,000 nights were booked in Ukrainian homes, nearly 3,000 of them by Canadians, according to Airbnb spokesman Matt McNama. The housing rental platform has also waived service fees for the occasion.

Airbnb has pledged to house 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Since the beginning of the initiative, nearly 30,000 guests, including 500 Canadians, have said they would like to welcome them.

The coast of Gaspe, photographed by tourists in the summer, sometimes seems to be sleeping in the middle of winter. Thanks to CEGEP and many service centers, Gaspe is still alive.
The city of Gaspé covers an area of more than 1,300 km2, including the cliffs of the Forillon National Park, one of the most beautiful landscapes in Quebec. The park is closed in winter, but there are a few trails for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and fatbiking in the mountains and along the coast, especially in La Taiga in Gaspé Bay.

The former L’Anse-au-Griffon cold store, the cultural center of Le Griffon, offers free snowshoe rental. On weekends, the Café de l’Anse serves meals, including a hearty lunch. A site on the way not to miss is the stunning lighthouse of Cap des Rosiers.

Au le Pin bakery, open from Wednesday to Saturday during the cold season, offers small pizzas for lunch, soups of the day, and great desserts (such as sugar and maple pie, sea buckthorn cheesecake, and more). The bread and croissants also look very good. Ideal for breakfast on the go with coffee.

Café des Artistes on the same street in winter, open until 3pm. You can have lunch in Surrey Vienna or dine on a bagel with smoked salmon and dine on a very nutritious sandwich served with soup and coffee of the day.

Bridge construction near Kelowna’s airport will see road closures for up to 4 weeks in March. The construction will involve replacing the Mill Creek bridge on Old Vernon Road. The bridge is said to be nearing the end of its service life and it also needs to be raised for increased flood flow.

Construction is scheduled to start on 1st March and is forecast to continue for three to four weeks. During this time all traffic from Airport Way and Spencer Road will be detoured to Bulman Road.

The airport bridge construction and road closure news come as the federal government has announced PCR pre-arrival requirements to be eased beginning 28 February. The federal government announcement has seen travel agents inundated with a much-welcomed influx of requests and bookings with Canadians taking the opportunity to book vacations abroad.

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced on Tuesday that it is suspending operational services (spare parts, maintenance and technical support) to Russian airlines and “essential operations” in Moscow.

“As the conflict continues, our team is focused on the safety of our team members in the area,” Boeing said in a statement to AFP, which has temporarily closed its offices in Kyiv.