News & Resources - Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable

September 23

Evaluating Canada’s Pandemic Border and Travel Policies: Lessons Learned

Today The Evaluating Canada’s Pandemic Border and Travel Policies: Lessons Learned Report was released. This report, authored by four esteemed Canadian doctors specializing in infectious diseases and pandemic management, assesses the impact and effectiveness of border measures and other travel restrictions introduced by the Canadian government to manage COVID-19. Read the Full Report

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August 29

This Muskoka resort is a must-visit in Ontario’s cottage country before summer ends

No other destination this summer and fall is more ideal than the JW Marriott Muskoka Resort & Spa on Lake Rosseau. Just two hours from the city of Toronto, the resort offers scenic views, beach access and state-of-the-art amenities – something for everyone in your family. By taking a vacation in Ontario this year, you can qualify for the temporary Ontario Staycation Tax Credit (2022) as the government continues to encourage exploring the province while the tourism and hospitality sectors recover from the financial impacts of COVID-19.

August 26

Toronto is getting a huge tech festival that also has concerts and a block party

Toronto is the new home of Elevate Festival 2022, a three-day concert and block party event coming to the city from September 20-22. The weekend is packed with opportunities to network, learn, create and celebrate, featuring speakers like tennis champion Venus Williams, astronaut Chris Hadfield, digital artist Krista Kim and Olympic medalist Andre De Grasse. A welcomed addition to the city as Toronto tourism works to rebound after two years of pandemic restrictions.

August 25

Canada hotels reach records for pandemic era in July

Canada’s monthly hotel occupancy rates reached an all-time pandemic peak in July of 2022, when compared to 2019. The hospitality industry continues to recover while industries work against inflation. The outlook for the rest of the year remains positive, with the recovery of lagging segments of the country closer to 60% in 2022.

August 10

Roundtable Continues to Urge Federal Government to Remove Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions as Tourism Sector Begins to Rebound

Canadian tourism activity is almost back to pre-COVID levels with both Canadians and expats boosting the hospitality industry and driving recovery. However, the Roundtable continues to call on the federal government to remove remaining COVID-19 restrictions and random testing at airports to make travel easier for passengers.

August 7

Explore the Beauty of Canada through these Top 6 Train Rides After Two Years of Lockdowns

With a number of train rides to choose from this summer, each rail journey provides a unique tourism experience. You can watch the terrain change through panoramic glass as you travel through the plains of Manitoba to the breathtaking Rocky Mountains. Canada has so much to explore and after two years of restrictions - there is no better time to explore our beautiful country.

July 29

Carnival Returns to Toronto This Summer as one of Toronto’s “Signature Events” Of The Summer

Canada has always celebrated its diversity as a nation, and with world-renowned events such as Carnival, crowds from international destinations are finally returning to participate. The Roundtable supports the return of significant in-person events such as Toronto’s Carnival, and urges the federal government to lift remaining COVID-19 restrictions as Canada attempts to return to normal.

June 28

Roundtable Calls on Federal Government to Remove Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions

The Roundtable calls on the federal government to follow the overwhelming science and evidence and further lift COVID-19 restrictions plaguing Canada's tourism sector and negatively impacting Canadian and international passengers.

June 14

Canada to end COVID vaccine mandate for domestic travel, outgoing flights: Report, Canadian Press

To help the sector recover, the Roundtable is urging the federal government to go further and end vaccine mandates for travelers and staff at Canada’s airports.

June 13

Travel industry calls for removal of vaccine mandate and other COVID restrictions

Ottawa’s suspension of randomized COVID-19 testing at customs marks a major shift toward clearing clogged terminals, but the Roundtable maintains that more measures are needed to end airport gridlock.

June 10

Canada’s Travel and Tourism Industry Welcomes Announced Changes to Travel Testing Requirements Made by Canada and U.S. Governments; Calls on the Canadian Government to Lift Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions

The Roundtable welcomes the step taken by the Canadian government to temporarily suspend mandatory arrivals testing for vaccinated travellers to assist with current congestion at airports, but continues to call on the Canadian Government to permanently remove all arrival testing and other remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

June 1

Travel and tourism industry calls on feds to provide “urgent relief” at Canada’s airports

The Roundtable is calling on the federal government to provide “urgent relief” at borders by decreasing delays travellers are facing at Canadian airports.

June 1

Travel and Tourism Industry Calls on the Federal Government for Immediate Relief at the Border

To help the sector recover, the Roundtable is urging the federal government to remove bottleneck, bureaucratic processes and streamline government checkpoints.

March 10

Representatives from business and tourism organizations gather at Toronto press conference to call on federal government to remove remaining COVID travel restrictions

Members of the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, the Global Business Travel Association, and American Express Global Business Travel have gathered to appeal for the lifting of all travel restrictions.

March 10

Tourism, business groups call on Canada to lift COVID-19 testing for fully vaccinated travellers

Representatives from several organizations held a press conference in Toronto Thursday morning, saying that removing the restriction is necessary to allow the tourism and business sectors to fully recover. The groups want to see the federal government remove the pre-departure testing requirement for fully vaccinated travellers no later than April 1, which is when the regulations are set to be updated.

March 2

B.C.’s tourism industry wants rapid antigen testing for travellers eliminated

Businesses that rely on international travellers want Canada to follow many European countries and remove all border testing for fully vaccinated travellers, before tourists decide to spend their holiday dollars elsewhere. Industry representatives are urging the federal government to remove the rapid antigen requirement for international visitors by April 1, and believe allowing Americans to cross the land border into Canada without testing would be a great start.

February 28

Industry groups demand Ottawa lift COVID-19 travel testing requirements

At a news conference at the Calgary airport hosted by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, WestJet communications vice-president Richard Bartrem said the carrier’s flight volume remains at half of its 2019 level of roughly 700 trips per day. The federal government announced earlier this month that as of Feb. 28 double-vaccinated air and land travellers no longer need to present a negative molecular test result, such as a PCR test, before departure for Canada. Wendy Paradis, president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, said in an interview rapid tests remain an “unnecessary barrier” to family and business travel.

February 15

Travel industry applauds end to COVID PCR testing requirements for fully vaccinated travelers

After months of advocating for looser travel restrictions in Canada, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is applauding the federal government's decision to remove the COVID-19 PCR testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers entering or returning to Canada.

February 15

Canada set to ease travel requirements in light of COVID cases declining across the country

On February 28, 2022, Canada will ease entry for fully vaccinated international travelers. As COVID-19 cases decline, the new measures, including random testing for vaccinated travelers and allowing a rapid antigen test for travelers instead of a molecular one will save people time and money.

February 10

Tourism industry wants Canada to ease COVID travel restrictions as other countries open

The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable again calls on the federal government to remove unnecessary and non-science-based obstacles to international travel. Speaking alongside the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, Dr. Dominik Mertz, division director of infectious diseases at McMaster University, says less than one per cent of COVID-19 cases across Canada have been associated with international travel.

February 10

Canada tourism official, Ontario doctors encourage dropping of arrival testing

Beth Potter, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, Dr. Dominik Mertz, division director of infectious diseases at McMaster University, and Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician, spoke Thursday about the pre-arrival testing for travellers to Canada. Chagla said he was calling for the dropping of the PCR test "at bare minimum," with Potter encouraging changes in order to help give travellers ahead of March Break and the summer have clarity on possible "hoops" they have to jump through to travel.

January 17

Tourism Leaders Urge End To Extensive PCR On-Arrival Testing

The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is calling on the federal government to redeploy PCR tests used for on-arrival testing to community use, and return to randomized on-arrival testing for surveillance purposes. The group points out that the positivity rate of fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada on a relative basis is extremely low when contrasted against the significantly higher positive rate in the community.

January 17

Airlines seek end to mandatory COVID-19 testing of vaccinated passengers on arrival

In a letter to Ottawa and the Ontario government, Air Canada, WestJet and Toronto's Pearson International Airport called for a shift of testing capacity from airports to the community. To further the ask, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable also urged the federal government to redeploy its testing capacity and return to random testing for international passengers.

December 8

Response to the Fall Economic Statement

The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable issued the following statement in response to the federal government’s Fall Economic Statement on November 30, 2020: (more…)

November 9

Statement from Roundtable

The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable notes with interest the government’s decision to begin engaging with Canada’s airlines regarding financial assistance and support for the broader aviation sector. (more…)

October 30

Canada needs to raise revenue from ‘growth not taxation’

BNN Bloomberg speaks with Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, about the latest commentary from Finance Minister Freeland and how to best grow Canada's economy.

October 28

With proper measures flying can be safer than eating at a restaurant during the pandemic, study says

The risk of catching the coronavirus on an airplane can be significantly reduced if travelers wash their hands frequently, wear masks at all times, and if airlines clean and sanitize planes thoroughly and ensure there is a constant flow of air throughout the cabin — even when the plane is parked, according to a study released Tuesday.

October 6

ICC Roadmap for Restoring International Travel Safely and Quickly

International Chamber of Commerce open letter to G20 Tourism Ministers calling for the development of a G20-wide pre-departure testing system.

October 5

Rapid testing devices ‘good’, but just one part of COVID defense strategy

Air Canada has ordered 25,000 rapid COVID-19 testing kits developed by Abbott Laboratories. Dr. Jim Chung, chief medical officer at Air Canada, discusses the preliminary results from Air Canada's study in partnership with McMaster HealthLabs and Toronto Airport, which looks at the effectiveness of airport COVID-19 testing upon traveler arrival.

September 26

Go Ahead and Catch the Travel Bug

Life has its hazards, even getting up in the morning. But plane travel is one of the safest forms of transportation. We must not become so paranoid that we become afraid of our own shadow.

September 15

Report: “Face Mask Use in Air Travel”

Harvard’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative published report details why face masks are an “essential protective measure”.

September 11

Travel and tourism industry calls for urgent dialogue and action with governments

This week, as tourism ministers across the country convened at the Canadian Council of Tourism Ministers (CCTM), business leaders in the sector are calling for urgent dialogue and action with governments to discuss the pandemic and its impacts on the sector.

August 13

Time for a cautious return to air travel

Air travel was hit hard and fast by the pandemic as international and domestic travel ground to a halt. Today, we need all levels of government to get behind developing a detailed plan for opening up the travel sector, and strong funding support for the industry.

August 1

Air Canada’s Flight Out of Darkness

Despite current limitations on travel, Canada’s largest airline is gradually rebuilding for its customers, employees and owners. It’s a slow, deliberate process that is subject to constant change as the global pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the aviation industry.

July 31

Air Canada, WestJet Cabin Crew Unions implore Federal Government to ‘Let Us Work’, or bail us out

The Unions representing the Cabin Crew Members of Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, WestJet, Swoop and WestJet Encore are calling on the Trudeau Government to safely remove domestic and most international travel restrictions to let our Airlines fly and Let Us Work.

July 29

European Air Executives Press Canada for Safe Return of Travel

European airline and airport executives are urging the Canadian government to allow a safe "restoration of travel" between Canada and Europe, encouraging Ottawa to remove coronavirus-related restrictions that have discouraged international travel.

July 8

Health experts press Ottawa for a more ‘balanced approach’ to tackling COVID-19 pandemic – Globe and Mail

Some of Canada’s top public-health experts say the country’s focus on wiping out the coronavirus is posing “significant risks to overall population health,” as other priorities take a backseat to the pandemic.

July 8

Air Canada to Explore Rapid COVID-19 Testing with Spartan Bioscience – Air Canada News Release

Air Canada is pleased to announce it has engaged Spartan Bioscience Inc., an Ottawa-based biotechnology leader in portable DNA testing technology, to assess how best to deploy Spartan's portable COVID-19 testing technology in the aviation sector.

July 7

Government of Canada—Help Reduce the Spread of COVID-19

Take the following precautions to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

July 6

Business leaders urge Ottawa, provinces to work together to ‘open up Canada’ – Financial Post

The head of the Business Council of Canada is urging Ottawa and the provinces to coordinate re-opening rules and bring down provincial barriers to capitalize on what he views as success in the first phase of combatting the coronavirus pandemic.

July 2

There’s An Interactive Map That Tells You Where You Can Travel In Canada Now – NARCITY

This could come in handy for any summer vacation plans. Are you asking yourself where can I travel in Canada now? A new interactive map tool will tell you exactly what the situation is in different parts of the country and if there are any restrictions to be aware of.

June 30

Airlines need aid or ability to fly to escape ‘catastrophic territory,’ Air Canada CEO warns– Financial Post

The chief executive of Canada’s largest air carrier says it’s time for the federal government to either relax pandemic - related restrictions on travel or provide more aid to a beleaguered airline industry that has been left “basically ... in shutdown mode” due to measures put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19.

June 25

Hotels Will Be Ready: HAC Boss Says– Travel Press

The Hotel Association of Canada is calling on governments to remove restrictions on province-to-province travel, saying doing so would be a boost to the country’s struggling lodging industry and could be done in a manner that wouldn’t lead to a further spread of coronavirus.

June 23

From cleaning robots to walk-thru disinfecting spray: How Pearson airport is planning for post-shutdown crowds– Toronto Star

Robots that clean surfaces. Fogging that cleanses departure waiting areas. Touchless entry points. A spray that disinfects as you leave.

June 12

Mayo Clinic—Coronavirus Travel Advice

Need to travel during the COVID-19 outbreak? Protect yourself and others with these precautions.

June 10

Tourism sector calls for national plan to cut back pandemic travel restrictions– Globe and Mail

Canada’s tourism and travel sector says it is time for the country to ease border restrictions ahead of the summer season – including some international travel – even as the federal government looks to extend border closings.

June

Health and Cleaning Initiatives Take Off– Hotel Business.com

Companies are continuing to roll out their health and safety plans to help guests feel confident in their stays.