ETA Canada Travel Pass News

The Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (SEPAQ) has stocked up on new things for outdoor enthusiasts this summer. Starting with more than 800 km of navigable routes in the La Vérendrye wildlife reserve, which, combined with some 500 campsites, will make this destination the ideal place for canoe-camping during the summer season.

In all, 18 canoeing circuits in lakes and rivers will be accessible to enthusiasts of different levels, both for 2-day getaways and for expeditions of more than 10 days.

In Charlevoix, in the Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie national park, the Équerre sector has been given a brand new four-bedroom pavilion, all intended for a fishing trip or a well deserved stop after taking one of the two new hiking trails.

Parc national de la Pointe-Taillon will also allow camping in Lac Saint-Jean this summer. Rustic campsites have been set up on three small islands in the new Camp-de-Touage-Les-îles sector — the islands of Connelly, Beemer and Petite Île Verte —, with pit toilets, a picnic table and a fire pit on small sandy beaches.

This year, it will also be possible to enjoy the dizzying view from the rocky escarpment at the end of the Pic-de-la-Tête-de-Chien trail in Parc national des Monts-Valin, in Saguenay–Lac-Saint -Jean, thanks to the development of a brand new 350-metre promenade and a wooden belvedere that allow you to “fly over” this fragile natural environment. Picnic tables and a shelter have even been added to appreciate this place which culminates at 575 meters.

The Aquarium du Québec has also enhanced its offer with a new experience, the ImMERsion adventure, an animation that offers a virtual dive under water, particularly in the heart of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

(Paris) Three years after the fire that devastated it, Notre-Dame de Paris has regained its original whiteness thanks to the daily work of an army of craftsmen in the heart of a forest of scaffolding for its reopening still scheduled for 2024.

“The interior dusting and cleaning of the vaults, walls and floor” which should be completed shortly, as well as the preparation of the vaults for their reconstruction, “have restored the cathedral to its original whiteness”, welcomes the establishment public in charge of the restoration site, a few days before the 3rd anniversary of the fire which will take place on Friday.

Before the fire, the cathedral welcomed nearly 12 million visitors, 2,400 services and 150 concerts per year.

On April 15, 2019, a gigantic fire ravaged this masterpiece of Gothic art, causing the collapse of its frame, its famous spire, its clock and part of its vault, ravaged by the flames, under the dumbfounded gaze of millions of people around the world.

The gaping hole left in the building has given way to a forest of scaffolding that also covers its sides.

The titanic project began in April 2019 with the “securing” of the building (bending of the 28 flying buttresses, dismantling of the scaffolding which surrounded the spire, clearing of the rubble, depollution of the 450 tonnes of lead partially vaporized in the atmosphere…). A “major stage” under high security which was completed in the summer of 2021, at a total cost of 151 million euros (207 million Canadian dollars).

The disaster had sparked an unprecedented outpouring of generosity, with nearly 844 million euros in donations collected ($1.15 billion) from 340,000 donors from 150 countries to date, according to the public establishment in charge of the project. restoration.

In parallel with the work in progress in the cathedral, restoration work is continuing in craft workshops throughout France.

Archaeological surprises

The great organ, dating from 1733 and the largest in France, was spared the fire but covered in lead dust. It has been dismantled like the stained glass windows, and is being cleaned like 22 large-format paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, while several statues, already restored, are on display at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris. .

We will have to wait a little longer for the launch of the reconstruction work on the medieval framework of the nave and the choir and the spire of Viollet-le-Duc, with a solid oak wood frame, which should dawn in the sky. of Paris from the spring of 2023, according to the public establishment.

A thousand oaks from public and private forests have already been sawn in anticipation.

Another key stage of the construction site must start on Wednesday: the extraction of the stones which will make it possible to rebuild the destroyed or damaged vaults.

Two test sites were carried out between September 2020 and April 2021 in the interior chapels of the cathedral, 24 in all, to define the techniques that will restore their original colors.

At the beginning of March, preventive excavations reserved a major surprise at the heart of the site: the discovery of a lead sarcophagus and the remains of the old rood screen of the cathedral dating from the 14th century, a stone platform which separated the liturgical choir of the nave and the faithful.

The diocese intends to take advantage of the restoration of Notre-Dame to give new life to its interior design by integrating contemporary art from old masters such as the Le Nain brothers or Charles Le Brun, light at face level, benches mobiles to replace secular chairs and biblical phrases projected on the walls.

The crypt, located under the cathedral, should also serve as a storage space with easy access by installing an elevator.

When they return to the famous cathedral in 2024, tourists and worshipers will now enter through the large central door and no longer through the side doors. They will benefit from a refined course around a central axis going from the nave to the choir.

Hikes, camping trips or long-distance travel… The following books, all new this spring, have something to inspire us for our next adventures – and help us make them a reality – whether they take place in the Quebec forest. or elsewhere in the world.

CAMPING 101 – Last year, literary journalist and camping enthusiast Marie-France Bornais offered us the book Le Québec encamping. This year, she does it again with Camping 101 – Everything you need to know before pitching your tent or backing up your RV, a guide in which she gives advice on how to tame camping. She answers questions that range from “When is the best time to book?” to “What to do when there is no bathroom?”, in addition to offering various lists and tips.

LONG HIKES IN QUEBEC – Along the river, in the mountains, deep in the boreal forest: this book offers 25 hikes of two days or more, to be discovered in the four corners of the province. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced walker, you will find advice on how to equip yourself and organize your nights on the trail, as well as information on the regions crossed. Inspiring and practical, the book is written by outdoor and travel journalist Frédérique Sauvée, who is also a researcher, author, speaker — and passionate about long-distance hiking.

MY YEAR ABROAD – Here, we are not talking about the outdoors in Quebec but rather about “slow travel” in the world. My year abroad is a tribute to “slow travel”; the story of a one-year journey that actor, host, columnist, author, and photographer Jean-Michel Dufaux made in 2018–2019. The book offers us an immersion in his daily life in Chiang Mai (Thailand), Da Nang (Vietnam), and Mazatlan (Mexico). You will discover reflections, highlights, escapades, good addresses, and film and digital photos of the author. Inspiration to travel differently.

PRACTICAL GUIDE TO HIKING – This book is for those who want to learn about hiking or deepen their practice. It covers basic topics such as preparation, equipment, nutrition, or injuries as well as other topics such as hiking with a child or hiking without a trace. Practical hiking guide – Everything to make it work! is written by Alexis Nantel, host of the Alexis le Randonneur program on TVA Sports and outdoor columnist on the radio, and Véronique Champagne, outdoor enthusiast who has collaborated with various publications, including Espaces magazine and the Journal de Montréal.

Megabus, a division of the American company Coach USA, will resume its bus connections from May 11 between Toronto and a dozen American cities.

It will also slightly increase the frequency of connections between Montreal and Toronto, increasing it from four to five trips per day. Passing through Toronto, Montrealers will have access to cities like Buffalo, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington DC.

However, for New York, Montrealers will probably have an interest in taking the direct connections offered by Trailways.

With the disappearance of Greyhound Canada in May 2021, bus connections between Montreal and other Canadian cities are very limited. Either use Megabus between Montreal and Toronto or opt for the train.

Despite the revival of tourism, travelers who will fly between two Canadian destinations this summer are enjoying prices about 5% lower than before the pandemic, reveals an analysis carried out by the travel application Hopper. For Vancouver and Calgary, prices are even up to 25% lower than on the same date in 2019.

With the rise in the price of oil, the improvement may not last long, but for the moment the prices of plane tickets between Canadian destinations do not seem to want to take off.

For travel in the summer of 2022, round-trip flights to Toronto are the cheapest among the 10 most popular destinations in Canada. They sell for an average of $243, Hopper calculates, down 16% from 2019. At $286, tickets to Montreal are also down over the same period, but only 6%.

Domestically, average prices have mostly fallen (by 25% compared to 2019) for flights to Vancouver ($258) and Calgary ($252). On the other hand, they climbed for Ottawa ($330, +6%), Winnipeg ($320, +7%), Victoria ($374, +15%) and Kelowna ($324, +13%).

Many factors, including the number of routes and demand, can explain the variation in prices. After two summers when travel abroad was limited by health measures (screening, quarantine), many Canadians may well have decided to take their vacation elsewhere in the world this year.

For the moment, carriers do not seem to have yet adjusted their prices following the rise in the price of a barrel of oil caused by the war in Ukraine.

The Canadian situation contrasts with that in the United States, where prices, driven by strong post-Omicron demand, have climbed about 7% from 2019, to an average of US$330. Year-to-date ticket prices have risen by as much as 40% in the United States, Hopper estimated in a report produced earlier this week. According to Hopper, this price should climb another 10%, to US$360, by the end of May, and remain at this level in June.

As for international flights, with an average price of US$810, the average price of tickets is up 25% since the start of the year, still in the United States. These prices should also continue to climb by 15% until June.

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.